Cape St Mary's Ecological Reserve

We wanted to spend a few more days in St John's but Sunday morn we decided to take off to Cape St Mary's (CSM) to take advantage of nice weather for the next few days.  CSM lies on the SW tip of the Avalon Peninsula, washed on 3 sides by the Atlantic.  It is one of the most spectacular and most assessable sea bird colonies in North America.  It is the nesting grounds of 70,000 sea birds, Northern Gannets, Murres, Kittiwakes, Razorbills, Guillemots and Cormorants. a naturalist said the birds swirl past the cliff face like a blizzard of snow.

At this time of year the predominant bird is the Northern Gannet, estimated to be 11,000 nesting pairs, their wing span is about 6 feet.  The day was sunny with little wind, fog and high winds are the norm, in storms wave heights can reach 50 feet, it's hard to figure out how the chicks keep from being blown off the rocks in high winds since they are out in the open.  It was a mile hike to the cliffs, as we approached the nesting grounds the bird noise grew louder and the smell very pungent.  The timing for hatching the chicks each year occur during the caplin fish run which are caught by the adults and fed to the chicks.  When one parent returns from the sea, he or she clacks their beaks together skyward with their mate, kind of a kiss on return called railing.  The fuzzy ones are the chicks, quite large at this time, they fly out to sea in September.

I made several round trips to the cliffs to catch the birds in different light, one trip was enough for Nita.  In my opinion CSM is a must see site if you visit NL.

Pics, the white is Gannets on the cliffs, two birds clacking beaks on greeting, bird rock, bird watcher, cliffs looking back to lighthouse and visitor center, wild iris on the barrens above the cliffs, chicks almost as large as the adults. (you can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them for more detail)