Thousands Nesting

     One Saturday morning in May, we left Paradise for Cape St. Mary's on the south west end of the Avalon Peninsula. The sky was cloudy with some drizzly rain and snow. Typical Newfoundland spring weather. As we drove west and south from the St. John's area the sky cleared which allowed the sun to give us hope that the day would be nice.

     Linda and Lloyd were taking us to the St. Mary's Ecological Reserve. Cape St. Mary's is the most accessible seabird rookery in North America. Bird Rock is the third largest nesting site and southernmost colony of northern gannets in North America. Cape St. Mary's is also the southernmost breeding area for thick-billed murres in the world and the southernmost major breeding site for common murres in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. This site is overflowing with perching, diving, and scrambling birds from edge to edge – melding together into an awesome moving, breathing spectacle of colour and sound.

     We walked 1 km from the interpretive centre to Bird Rock along a worn trail. You can see the rugged cliffs and spend hours watching the daily lives of some of the world's most interesting seabirds. During the summer you can also see mosses, lichens, low-growing shrubs, and alpine wildflowers. The flowers were just peeking out of the yellowed grass. In the summer it must be beautiful to see all the flowers in bloom.

     Normally, sheep are let out to roam the field but we did not see one. Apparently, the farmers are not keen on letting the sheep roam due to the sighting of coyotes last year and this.

The trail to Bird Rock. The grass is still brown and only the heads
of the wildflowers are seen coming up through the long grass.

Our goal is to walk along a windy path to Bird Rock. You can see it in the middle
of the cliffs in this photo. It looks like there are white dots on it. Those are the birds.

All along the cliffs are birds nesting.

Although there was not a cloud in the sky and the sun was shining, the wind was strong.
We had on our winter coats to keep out the cold wind.

Linda, in the front, Lloyd and Al are almost at Bird Rock

Bird Rock where thousands of Northern Gannets are nesting

Northern Gannets on the cliff edge.

Looking out to sea

Looking back to the interpretive centre. Notice the nesting birds in the foreground.

Linda looking over to Bird Rock. Only a few metres away.

Looking down on Bird Rock

It is amazing to see so many birds.

Photos below are of Northern Gannets on Bird Rock

The birds nesting on the cliffs. All the dots over the water are birds.
Some of them are Black-legged Kittiwakes.

More birds nesting.

Al holding a broken egg.

Lloyd sitting on the hill looking through his binoculars at the birds.

Walking back along the pathway

Looking across the meadow to the sea.

     After our visit to Bird Rock, we looked at the displays in the interpretive centre and learned a lot about the 70,000 seabirds.

"the birds...swirl past the cliff face like a blizzard of snow" 

A quote from the famous ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson

      Travelling around the peninsula we stopped in the Town of Branch to have lunch. Fish (cod) and chips was the specialty. It was a lovely meal. As we continued on towards Paradise (where we live), the sky began to change. Heavy clouds covered the sky, just like we left it that morning. It began to drizzle.

     We had a wonderful day with good friends, good food and amazing sights and sounds of the birds at Cape St. Mary's Ecological Centre. If you do go to the Ecological Centre, give yourself a full day and watch out for the rough roads. The scenery along the way makes up for the roads. See this video concerning Cape St. Mary Ecological Centre