Newfoundland - Part 7

While spending a couple of nights in Lewisporte, we drove out to Twillingate to see some of the icebergs that were being reported in that area.

The Long Point Lighthouse on Crow Head

The view from near the lighthouse

Icebergs in the waters near Twillingate

Newfoundland - Part 6

We spent a couple of nights in Terra Nova National Park in eastern Newfoundland.

On a walk along the shore we spotted this juvenile Little Blue Heron.

We've also been seeing a fair number of wildflowers.

Newfoundland - Part 5

After visiting Cape St. Mary's, we traveled up the east side of Newfoundland to the Bonavista Peninsula.  Near the town of Elliston is one of the best land based places to view Atlantic Puffins.

The town of Elliston bills itself as the "Root Cellar Capital of the World".  Before electricity, these were built into hillsides as a place to store produce without freezing in winter and spoiling in summer.

One of the many root cellars we spotted

An iceberg seen near the puffin viewing area

The puffin viewing site is at the end of a point off of which is a small island separated from the point by only a few yards of water.

We also drove around part of the Bonavista Peninsula to take in the scenery and look for icebergs.

Newfoundland - Part 4

After leaving the St. John's area, we drove across the Avalon Peninsula to the Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve.  This reserve has a huge number of nesting Northern Gannets and other sea birds during the summer.  A one kilometer trail leads to an overlook of a nearby sea stack called Bird Rock, the top of which was covered by pairs of nesting gannets.

Fog is very common at the reserve and when we started on the trail to the viewing overlook, it was pretty foggy.

The top of Bird Rock surrounded by fog

Greeting ritual for a pair of gannets

Gannet procreation

Incoming

While we were at the observation overlook, the fog started to clear, allowing us to see further and more clearly.

Lots of murres swimming below

Northern Gannets in flight

The viewing overlook

Bird Rock area from the access trail

Newfoundland - Part 3

A few miles south of St. John's is the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve.  This includes several islands which attract thousands of seabirds which nest there.  A few local companies operate boat tours to visit the reserve.

The catamaran tour boat the we went out on.

A seal checking us out as we left the harbor

Very colorful rocks and water along the shore

Gull Island in the reserve hosts large populations of nesting Atlantic Puffins, Common Murres (aka Common Guillemot), and Black-legged Kittiwakes.  Each species utilizes a different kind of terrain on the islands.

The kittiwakes build their nests on small shelves on the cliffs.

The murres nest tightly clustered together along narrow rock ledges.  They lay their eggs directly on the rock surface of the ledge.

The puffins nest at the top where they can dig burrows into the topsoil in which they lay their eggs.

There were swarms of the seabirds hunting the ocean for food.

We also spotted a few Northern Gannets.

The murres (and puffins) struggle to back into the air.

The gannets are a bit more graceful.

There were a few small icebergs in the area.

One of the other tour operators had spotted a Humpback Whale so we also went to find it.