We are in need of another boat ride, so we’re driving to Witless Bay where there is an ecological reserve filled with birds that is only accessible by boat (since it’s an island). Here is the bay and the boat:
The ride out to the island was, of course, scenic:
There are an astonishing number of birds on the island. Lots of puffins…
…And common murres
…And bald eagles.
We learned a lot about puffins and common murres. Puffins have the aerodynamics of a Chevy pick-up. The only way they can fly is to take off from the side of a steep hill. Hence, they always build their burrows on a hill. They also abandon their chicks after they are born. The poor chicks need to make their way to edge of the burrow and fling themselves in to the water (they cannot fly until they are 2-3 years old). Only about 5% of puffins make it to adulthood – not surprising, eh?
Common murres mate for life, however each winter they fly to different parts of the world and then the next spring (hopefully) reunite and have babies at the same nesting site. These birds don’t abandon their young when they are chicks, and their only defense is “safety in numbers’. You will always see a large group of them together squawking to try to keep predators away. Eagles are one of their predators, but seagulls are predators of their chicks. When an eagle is near the common murre, the adults will abandon their young and then the seagulls will swoop in and eat their chicks. It is a bit depressing particularly when you see it in action as we did.
We didn’t learn much about bald eagles other than (understandably) all the birds are terrified of them and move out when they are around. BTW, they are not protected in Canada like they are in the US.
On the boat we also got to witness a “screeching” (where someone becomes an honorary Newfoundlander). The “ceremony” involves answering some questions, repeating an oath in some incomprehensible dialect and drinking some horrific Newfoundland hooch. Glad we witnessed the ceremony, but did not participate (admittedly we would love to become honorary Newfoundlanders, but horrific hooch we can do without).
We returned to St. Johns in the early afternoon and headed off to the “Fluvarium” near our campsite. The Fluvarium allows you to view fresh water fish in their natural environment because it is built in to the side of a pond. Conveniently we showed up at feeding time. The fish in the Fluvarium are free to come and go as desired, and they are able to obtain enough nourishment through the flowing stream, but the Fluvarium staff also feeds them a little bit each day so the tourists can watch. As the guide fed them she also provided lots of information about the fish – very interesting, but, alas, we retained little.
We went for a nice walk/hike around Long Pond, but were very disappointed when we saw this bench instead of the red Adirondack chairs we have grown accustomed to on our hikes 🙂
In the evening we went to a jam session (knows as a “kitchen party” in Newfoundland). They are held here every Friday night at The Rooms Museum and Cultural Center. Tom joined in even though everyone else was a local and they were playing Newfoundland folk music. He has little familiarity with this music for obvious reasons. Nevertheless, it was a fun night and Tom was a super star (at least in my eyes).
North Atlantic Canada 2019 