Experience

 

When to See The Birds

During the autumn, millions of northern birds flee the high Arctic winters of Greenland and the Northwest Territories for ice-free feeding grounds along the coast. Loons, a variety of ducks, and many other water birds from the province and continental North America also choose our ocean waters for their over wintering habitat. As the ice from the Arctic travels south and portions of the ocean freeze, these marine birds feed on the abundant stocks of plankton and the fish that are also attracted to this rich Arctic edge. The south coast of Newfoundland, which remains ice-free, attracts millions of additional seabirds together with northern whales and seals. Some European birds travel across the ocean to join in this little-known feeding frenzy.

As the spring arrives, swarms of seabirds number in the hundreds of thousands gather in the bays and along the coast. Their huge numbers cast a black shadow on the ocean as most hurry north in anticipation of the Arctic spring. While the visitors migrate from Newfoundland, millions of additional seabirds depart their offshore over wintering areas on the Grand Banks or further south and approach the coastal island and remote cliff faces of Newfoundland and Labrador. These breeders create some of the largest seabird colonies in the world. As spring turns to summer, the eagles return to their nests, Arctic terns arrive from the southern hemisphere to breed, while shearwaters from as far away as the Antarctic arrive to pursue the caplin and other marine fish off the coast. One of the planet's largest gatherings of osprey arrives to breed and fish the rich waters. This is world seabird central.

Over the spring and summer the gannets, murres, gulls, storm-petrels, and other seabirds carry on the serious business of mating and raising a family. This is when most visitors come to photograph the colourful puffins and the other breeding seabirds with their young. Few people leave disappointed. During these months the seabird watching opportunities of the province have been described by international experts as the best in the world.

Most seabirds have left their breeding sites for open sea by September. In many cases the newly fledged chicks will spend a year or two on the ocean before even seeing land again.

The waters are quiet until October or November when the Arctic seabirds return to carry on a cycle that has endured for thousands of years. A few of these visiting northern seabirds will be making their 20th or 30th winter trip to Newfoundland - no surprise since seabirds are long-lived creatures that have evolved to survive the challenging cold waters of the North Atlantic Ocean.

The world of our seabirds is rich and chaotic. On the ocean huge feeding flocks, sometimes made up of a dozen or more different species, plunge, swim, or dive after a variety of fish and other small sea creatures. The large breeding colonies of seabirds have been called bazaars due to their resemblance to the loud and colourful mix of peoples and cultures found in the bazaars of the Middle East. The Newfoundland and Labrador seabird bazaars are a dazzling mix of sights and sounds. Thousands of kittiwakes rise and swarm around ravens or predatory gulls in a dizzying display of screams and aerial acrobatics. Puffins add colourful contrast to green grassy slopes or dark rocky outcroppings. Murres are so tightly packed together that individuals arrive from sea often have to land on the heads of their ledge-sharing companions. Razorbills and black guillemots hide between boulders in small caves. Gannets add a white and yellow crown to the seastacks and high ground. As the day turns into night, the nonstop cries of the gulls give way to the purring songs of the storm-petrels. (The seabirds exhibit at the Newfoundland Museum in St. John's successfully captures some of the atmosphere of a seabird bazaar. Anyone with an interest in marine biology or natural history will enjoy a visit to the Museum.)

Day and night there is constant sound and motion. These birds are born to chaos. As a result, careful visitors who watch the spectacle of life and death in a large seabird colony are unlikely to disturb the birds. People cause no harm when they are quiet, polite, and careful; care must be taken. Puffins and storm-petrels dig burrows that will be crushed underfoot. A gunshot or loud noise will flush tens of thousands of birds who, in their panic, will knock helpless chicks off the ledges. This "fly off" allows gulls and ravens to snatch up other unprotected chicks. Young loons or eiders who are separated from parents by boats can also fall prey to the ever-present gulls. People and boats have been around seabird colonies for centuries, and when the people are careful about not causing disturbances, the birds thrive. Many large colonies have been turned into Ecological Reserves where birds are protected and humans are required to be well-behaved.

The challenges of earning a living from the ocean has resulted in some basic behaviors and characteristics common to most seabirds. Most spend all of their nonbreeding lives on the ocean. They come to land because of the need to lay eggs. Usually both parents share the duties of raising the young, and in most cases it is impossible to tell a male from a female. This listing describes our most common seabirds and where to see them.