Post by Randy on Jul 13, 2013 12:19:27 GMT -8
As mentioned in my previous post, this is the third largest northern gannet breeding colony in the world and the world's most accessible seabird breeding colony. It was about 2.5 hours southeast of St. John's and well worth the drive. One is able to get within 30 feet of the gannets without disturbing them. The trail itself is just over 1 kilometre long and takes you along the cliffs, which are 300 feet above the water. The first day was very foggy (it's foggy over 200 days per year and almost every day in the summer). We went back the next day because there was about 1 hour of blue sky before the fog rolled in so I managed to get some good pics.
There are some neat species here including black-legged kittiwakes, common and thick-billed murres, razorbills, and gannets. Sorry about the number of pics, but I just couldn't decide!!
Here's some from the foggy first day:
Common murre:
Gannets:
"Bird Rock" - this picture does not do justice to how close you are to it:
Black-legged kittiwake:
Razorbill:
This gannet with a baby:
On the morning of the second day we had about 1 hour before the thick fog rolled in again so I tried to take advantage of this.
You can get a sense of the height of the cliffs:
Thousands of common murres along the cliffs:
Here's a thick-billed murre beside a common murre. Note the jet black head, slightly shorter bill, and white line between upper and lower mandible. We found about 5 of thesethick-billed guys among the thousands of common murres:
You can really get a sense of how close you are to the gannets in this picture of my wife:
More gannets:
Absolutely unbelieveable and a must if in St. John's. The sound and the smell complete the experience!
There are some neat species here including black-legged kittiwakes, common and thick-billed murres, razorbills, and gannets. Sorry about the number of pics, but I just couldn't decide!!
Here's some from the foggy first day:
Common murre:
Gannets:
"Bird Rock" - this picture does not do justice to how close you are to it:
Black-legged kittiwake:
Razorbill:
This gannet with a baby:
On the morning of the second day we had about 1 hour before the thick fog rolled in again so I tried to take advantage of this.
You can get a sense of the height of the cliffs:
Thousands of common murres along the cliffs:
Here's a thick-billed murre beside a common murre. Note the jet black head, slightly shorter bill, and white line between upper and lower mandible. We found about 5 of thesethick-billed guys among the thousands of common murres:
You can really get a sense of how close you are to the gannets in this picture of my wife:
More gannets:
Absolutely unbelieveable and a must if in St. John's. The sound and the smell complete the experience!
