We arrived in Argentia, NL, early in the morning and were situated at the nearby RV park by 10 am. Since it was a beautiful day we decided to drive to Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve, about 50 miles down the coast. This reserve has the most accessible seabird colony in North America, and hosts thousands of nesting Northern Gannets, Muerres, Razorbills, and various sea gulls. The interpretive center is staffed by knowledgeable rangers, and houses interesting displays of the natural inhabitants of this peninsula.
We did the easy walk out to the cliffs where the birds were roosting, and were lucky to find a ranger out at the point helping people identify the various birds.
When following the path across the barrens that cover the Cape, it was hard to imagine what lay just beyond:
This low, sparse vegetation is typical of the area - high winds, harsh winters, salt spray, and shallow soil all combine to keep the plants in check.
Soon we began to see the rugged cliffs, some 425 feet high. The center section in the photo at the left is actually a sea stack, completely separated from the land behind. The separation provides excellent protection for the nesting birds from land-based predators.
The rocks appear white from the thousands of birds roosting on the tiniest of ledges. By the time we were this close, we could hear the cacophony of screeching birds.
In the crevasse in the cliff, common muerres and the occasional razorbill crowd close in their precarious nests.
These are Northern Gannets with their fluffy chicks. The two in the center were engaged in quite a bill-rubbing, head-bobbing, wing-spreading dance. Be sure to click on the photos to be able to see the details!
While we were busy watching the birds, the ranger spotted this minke whale just off shore. All the little black specks on the water are actually birds floating on the surface, and the big white dots on the left are flying gannets.
As we were walking back across the barrens, Tom spotted this male willow ptarmigan in his colorful summer plumage. We figured that a female and her nestlings were probably close by, but we could not see them.
As with so many of our days in Newfoundland, we were fortunate with the weather - on the day we went Cape St. Mary's, it was sunny and fairly warm. The next day, when we drove the 83 miles across the Avalon Peninsula from Argentia to St. John's was quite stormy, with intermittant rain and high winds. Barbara was very glad for our Comfort Drive steering, which makes handling the motorhome relatively easy even in adverse conditions. The roads were good, and we arrived at Pippy Park, a very nice municipal park with a big RV section, without incident.
Over the next week, we will post three more posts about our adventures in the St. John's area.
Wow!
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