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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Gannets soaring off Cape St. Mary, Newfoundland |
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