Puffin Paradise and Root Cellars

Puffins at Elliston colony in Newfoundland

I awoke in a funk this morning, having had dreams about a world without animals.  I felt sad for the people of Newfoundland.  My whole life, I have been surrounded by creatures of one sort or another.  Here, we had yet to even see farmland or cattle or horses.  It is a life I cannot imagine.

We had been told that Skerwink Trail would be a great hike for us.  When we arrived, however, the parking was filled with over a dozen cars.  Not wanting to hike a busy trail, we drove on to the next hike, hoping it would be less crowded.  I just love it when we listen to God urging us on!

The Klondike hike begins in the small town of Elliston, so we drove the rough and bumpy road to visit this small community.  

Most towns have one name to fame.  We discovered that Elliston has two extremely unique ones.  Elliston is the “root cellar capital of the world,” having135 documented “man-made, frost-free, food preservers” scattered through the town and along the countryside, a tribute to the ingenuity of its pioneers.  Many of the root cellars have survived over two centuries.  They were used to keep food from freezing in the winter and cool in the summer months.

Elliston, Newfoundland

Elliston’s second claim to fame is an absolutely fantastic colony of puffins!  We had heard that we “might” see puffins here.  When we stopped at the visitor’s center, the young man told us that there were plenty out there today… in fact, an unusual number for this time of year.

Again, not knowing what to expect, we made the drive to the puffin walking trail.  and not wanting to be caught without proper gear like we had with the gannets, this time we brought it all… tripod, both lenses, binoculars, spare battery… everything.  Wow!  Were we glad that we did!

We began the walk up the trail.  The wind blew so stiffly that it swallowed David's words.  I had to hold my cap in my hand because I was unable to keep it on my head.  After walking about a quarter of a mile, we crested the small peninsula and found a small, flat-topped rock absolutely covered in puffins (in the photo below, it is the last flat-topped rock).  

We were much farther from the puffins than we had been to the gannets... probably 20 yards or more from our viewing position to the nearest bird.  Still the puffins charmed... we laughed and giggled like school children.  It was absolutely fantastic!

Puffin colony, Elliston, Newfoundland

Puffins are unique in the bird family.  They are one of a few birds with solid bones.  This makes them great divers but lousy fliers.  They sort of fly like little torpedoes, close to the ground, skimming the water.  We saw many of the young puffins flapping their wings until they were airborne for a few minutes.  Then they would hover back to land.

A quick check on the internet gave a bit more information… the puffins must flap its wings 300-400 times per minute to stay airborne.  It rarely lands gracefully, often crashing or tumbling onto the grass or sea.  They are, however, strong swimmers.  They catch an average of 10 fish per dive and as many as 60!

The puffins nest on grass-covered cliffs, making burrow into the cliff side.  Over 60% of all Atlantic puffins breed on the eastern shores of Newfoundland.  

Puffin burrows.

Here is a bit of what we saw… thankfully, with the tripod, I was able to take steadier video.  I admit that there is nothing really exciting in the movie, but it will show you a bit of "puffin busyness."

Soon the entire colony left the cliff and went to sea where they spend the entire winter.  After learning that the Bonavista side of the Klondike Trail was the most scenic, we drove to that end of the trailhead.  It was a glorious hike… God even provided wild blueberries for us to snack on while we were on the trail.

Klondike Trail near Bonavista, Newfoundland

Wild blueberries in Newfoundland

As an added bonus, we even saw a small farm on our drive to Bonavista, complete with horses.  I had to smile... it felt like so much more than just coincidence!  (Later we even saw a small dairy farm!)

Horse on Newfoundland farm

Proud of its heritage, the Elliston townspeople have garnered support from the entire community.  This quaint, tiny town has a wonderful visitor’s center, puffin information center, and plaques explaining different town buildings scattered around.  Its recently refurbished municipal campground is across from the harbor.  We spent the night here, hoping to take more photos of the puffins in the morning.

To our surprise, there were only two puffins on the cliff this morning when we arrived.  We saw a small group in the distance, floating in the water.  It was early, before 9 am, and brisk after the night’s rain… could the puffins have migrated this morning?  Folks at the visitor's center had told us that they are normally gone by now.  Would our gracious and loving God have compelled the puffins to stay just so that we could witness them?  I have no answer to this question, only praise.

View from Klondike Trail

Newfoundland and Labrador on Dwellable

Where are all the Mammals?

We continue our drive across Newfoundland, traveling through harbor towns interspersed between deep forests and miles of wilderness.  Still we have yet to spy a single mammal.  It is, indeed, odd.

While David dashed into a Canadian Tire Store for a few items, I stayed in the truck with Roxanne.  I was surprised to be able to pick up WiFi from a neighboring restaurant.  On a hunch, I Googled “Newfoundland wildlife.”  What I discovered was absolutely amazing to me.  

Here is the list of all of the native hoofed animals on the island of Newfoundland:  caribou.  That was it… no deer, no bighorn sheep, no mountain goats… only caribou. 

In fact, I discovered that Newfoundland has only fifteen native species of mammals.  The Newfoundland wolf is now extinct, leaving fourteen on the list.  Three of those are bats.  One was the snowshoe hare.  Black bear exist.  Martens are on the endangered list.  There were a few mammals that were introduced, like the moose (a VERY interesting story that I will save for another post).

Wow!  My hopes of photographing wildlife here have been all but dashed.  We are still trying to understand Newfoundland.  The folks are lovely… they drive like crazy people, but when we speak with them, they have been very friendly and open. 

So we drive on… We spent the night at a great private campground, the Kilmory Resort near Swift River.  Tomorrow we travel to the Bonavista Peninsula. 

Following Little Green Dots

When we arrived at our campground last night, we discovered that it had once been a refueling air base for American pilots during WWII.  In fact, the entire area held special significance during WWII.  Placentia was also the place where President Theodore Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill signed the Atlantic Charter, which was the precursor for NATO.  While not much remains to be seen, it was an honor to set foot on the ground where so many heroes had once stood.

We determined to travel to another green dot on the map today.  With name similar to the gannet colony’s  “ecological reserve,” we assumed that this, too, would offer some amazing wildlife.  So we traveled through the southeastern barrens, a rolling and mostly treeless landscape, onto the Fortune Head Ecological Preserve.

When we arrived, we saw a retired lighthouse and a viewing platform with a few interpretive signs.  A car with four folks in it was just leaving.  One of the occupants asked if we knew about the site. 

David told them, “No… we were just following a green dot on the map.”

“So were we!” one exclaimed.  They kindly directed us to walk the trail below the viewing deck to see the magnificent rock formations.

Rock formations?  We did the walk.  Here is a photo of what we saw:

Newfoundland's Fortune Head Rock Formations

Okay… it was hardly the wildlife that I expected to find here.  But, wanting to be a good sport, I stood in the gale-force winds and began reading the interpretive signs.  Unfortunately for you, my dear readers, it rankled me to the point that the soapbox has been pulled out yet once again, and I must write…

The interpretive signs explained that these rock formations on Fortune Head were the “best location in the world to study the stacked appearance of trace fossils, small shelly fossils, and Cambrian microfossils.”

It further stated as fact that Fortune Head fossils illustrate the evolution of life from simple Precambrian organisms to complex Cambrian lifeforms to the present state of man.  For those of you who know me best, I was appalled.  I wanted to shout… “Evolution of man from an amoeba or some chemical is a THEORY… not a proven fact!” 

This particular plaque offers a certain point of view… not proven science.  So often when David and I travel, we find this sort of drivel.  There is no balance in an offering, only one point of view.  I feel that it is a travesty that the people who posted this edict made no mention that evolution was a theory… instead offering it as simple fact without question. 

Based on my research, it is truly a stretch to say that the Precambrian fossils are the precursor to the human beings that we see today.  In fact, there is not even a proven link between the soft-bodied fossils of the Precambrian age to the complex animal fossils of the Cambrian explosion. 

Evolution is not the only argument supported by strong evidence.  For those who do not believe there is a God, evolution is their answer… but for those of us who do believe in a creator God, there are certainly other explanations.

I admit that I am not a sedimentologist… but I consider it an honor to call one of the greatest sedimentology minds in the nation my friend.  If John stood with me at this moment, I know for certain that he would be able to guide me through each formation and its meaning. John’s gift is to take a rock and make its story come alive, explaining the mysteries God has chosen to reveal in it.

The fact is, evolution simply does not explain the origin of man.  Based on my research… from reading more books than I can count, viewing dozens of documentaries, and sitting at the feet of some brilliant minds to learn from them… I am convinced that evolution is a debatable theory.

I encourage you to do the same homework.  If you would like a beginning place, may I suggest renting the Illustra DVD Darwin’s Dilemma from your local library.  If you prefer reading books, here are three excellent choices: Lee Strobel’s Case for a Creator, Steve Myer’s Icons of Evolution, or, for young readers, a book by Bickel and Jantz called Creation & Evolution 101.  If you need more references, please let me know.

As for David and I?  We are definitely going to investigate those little green dots on the maps a bit more before trekking out to see one! 

I feel better for having written this…  thank you, dear friends, for offering me a moment to do so.  The soapbox has now been put away.  Good night and sweet dreams!

The Birds of St. Mary's

We shook off our experience at Notre Dame Provincial Park and determined to visit the “Avalon Peninsula.”  We drove along the southwest corner, meandering along the lovely coastline.  We had heard that a place called Cape St. Mary Ecological Reserve on St. Mary’s Bay was a "must see."  Known for a shorebird colony, we were also warned, however, that we were probably much too late in the year to see much.  Particularly after our experience at yesterday's ecological reserve, we were not optimistic.

When we arrived, we hardly knew what to expect.  They had a lovely visitor’s center, so we strolled in to see what there was to see.  The young attendant told us that they had a gannet colony that we could walk out to visit. 

Visitor's Center at Cape St. Mary Ecological Reserve,
St. Mary's Bay, Newfoundland

If there was a lot to see, it was later in the afternoon than we had hoped… nearly 4 pm.  Thankful that it was cool enough to leave Roxanne in the car, David grabbed his binoculars, and I loaded the “big gun” onto my camera, figuring that I would need all of the horsepower I could muster to shoot birds at a distance.  We also figured that we couldn’t stay very long if we were to find a decent campground for the night.

As we walked the mile-long trail, we could see the gannet colony in the distance.  As you can tell from the photo, the rock is absolutely covered in birds.  Obviously we weren't too late in the season!  We were amazed at the sheer numbers and wondered how close we might be able to get to the colony.

Gannet Colony at Cape St. Mary Ecological Reserve,
St. Mary's Bay, Newfoundland

The trail twisted and turned until we arrived at the pinnacle.  It was an incredible sight.  The path ended on one cliff… a stone’s throw from the gannet colony.  We were literally less than 30 feet from the edge of one cliff to the other.

Neither David nor I were prepared for this.  We had left the tripod and my “walkabout,” shorter lens in the camper.  Neither my battery power nor the number of shots left on my memory chip were in my favor (and I had also left backups to both in the truck).  Yet here we were at the precipice of one of only six gannet colonies in North America… probably the closest site available for humans to witness these amazing birds.

These were the same, impressive birds that we had seen at Meat Cove.  Gannets are  notorious for plunging into the sea to retrieve fish for their supper.  While most of their dives are shallow, some dives take the gannets over 28 meters into the sea.  Often, a tall plume of sea spray follows each dive.  Now we saw their rookery… a tall, flat-topped, craggy cliff with nooks and crannies, all covered in mud, grass, birds, and an enormous amount of bird poop.

Approximately 50,000 birds nest in this colony, including some 15,000 breeding pairs, their 7,500 chicks, 5,000 juveniles, and another 5,000 seniors.  We saw new baby gannets in their white fuzzy plumage.  Older babies were the exact color of the poop-covered cliffs.  Many of the majestic adults, with their six-foot wing span, hovered over their nests.  Others cared for their young.  Some enacted their odd dance, shaking and bowing their heads.  Others flew to and fro from the sea.  The cacophony of their squawks and calls reverberated to my very core.

Gannet Colony at Cape St. Mary's

I spent nearly an hour mesmerized by the scene.  David spotted areas for me to concentrate my lens, while I attempted to shoot both video and stills with my camera since we had not brought his. 

The wind gusted around us so strongly that I had to hold my cap.  With the stiff gale and heavy weight of the camera and long-distance lens cantilevered in front of my eye, I had a difficult time holding the lens steady enough to take decent videos.  Finally, I pulled my knees to my chest.  I set the lens on one knee and hunkered over the camera, trying to get a visual.  While I felt a bit like a contortionist, it helped to steady the video somewhat but not nearly enough.  Please forgive the following attempts, but I would love for you to get a glimpse of what we saw.  Also, I am still working on blending stills and video… but here is a very brief example of a gannet feeding her young and a second video of a portion of the gannet colony and their interactions:

Gannet feeding her young chick.

Gannet colony interactions.

We have since learned that these stunning birds are a member of the pelican family.  They first breed around age seven.  Most live to be around 17 years.  They migrate to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico each year during the winter.  Like many shore birds, their habitat and they are in peril.

I was down to 11 shots on my camera’s memory chip and my battery charge level had dropped from four to two.  I was both frustrated and exhilarated.  There was little more that I could shoot… except, of course, that “perfect shot.”  We walked back to the truck in complete amazement that God would offer us this tremendous gift.

The nearest campground was nothing more than a few electrical hook-ups in a field behind a bar and restaurant.  Not feeling comfortable here, we opted to drive the 45 minutes back to Placentia and their campground.  We left St. Mary’s Cape wondering what other mysteries might unfold on the island of Newfoundland.

Gannets soaring off Cape St. Mary, Newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador on Dwellable