Seabird Colonies

seabird colonies: The restaurants are not yet open, as if the land were also draped in a cowl of drowsiness. It is only June 2, very early in the tourist season, which perhaps explains the lack of ready caffeine in this sleepy outport. But an hour later the parking lot begins to fill up with ecotourists, like myself with binoculars and cameras draped about their necks, ready to board O Briens Whale and Seabird Tours boat, according to The Chronicle Herald. It has been nearly 30 years since I first made a trip to these seabird colonies, but at that time it was aboard an inflatable Zodiac accompanied by slicker-clad seabird biologists, not in the dry comfort of a 14-metre seaworthy tour boat with a bar and viewing deck. That encounter with the largest concentration of breeding seabirds in Canada upwards of two million left a lasting impression that today piques my anticipation as we leave the dock to brightening skies and At 10 in the morning, thick fog still blankets the headlands and harbour in Bay Bulls, N.L., a half-hour south of St. Johns on a stretch of seacoast known as the Irish Shore. We share a by now well-known secret. Offshore, in the whimsically named Witless Bay, hidden by a scrim of fog, is one of the greatest shows in the natural world nations of seabirds, including the largest colony of Atlantic puffins in North America, gathered on a quartet of craggy islands. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.