29/06: Puffins!!!!
Category: General
Posted by: The Agnew Family
Todays outing took us to the coast and slightly south. Our final destination is a tour of the Witless Bay Estuary out of Mobile which is about 40 kilometers south of St. John's. One of the "must do" items on my list for Newfoundland was to see Puffins.
SHIPS AHOY!!!! As we were driving down highway 10, we spotted boats in a pond. Turns out the fellow across the road builds and sells model boats. He even has small boats with docks and people.
Ferryland was founded in 1621 by Lord Baltimore. This is the Ferryland lighthouse. Some enterprising people office picnics at the lighthouse. You pre-order your picnic and pick it up at the light keepers house.
Interesting weather today. One minute you were in the sun, next minute you were in fog. Makes for some great photographs.
The island on the left of photo has sheep grazing on it. The sheep are taken out to the island in the summer.
The East Coast Trail is 540 kilometers long (265 kilometers of it have maps and signage). The trail follows the east coast of the Avalon Peninsula. We walked a couple of kilometers of it.
Zaph's favourite cove.
After researching all the Puffin and Whale Watching Tours, we chose Molly Bawn Whale and Puffin Tours. It is a smaller boat that holds 12 people but it's still big enough to keep the cameras dry. Ed and I were lucky and were the only people on the 5:30 tour today. The ladies asked what we were most interested in and we answered Puffins, so they choose a route that would give us good views of puffins. Not only did we see puffins but we saw Kittiwakes, Razorbills, Black Guillemots, Murres and Humpback Whales.
Black-legged Kittiwake like to nest on small rock ledges.
The Atlantic Puffin is the smallest of the three Puffins, with a length of 12.5 inches, wing span of 21 inches and a weight of 13 ounces. The other two puffins being the tufted and horned that are found along the west coast.
Sometimes you just have to run on the water before you can take off.
The puffins winter in the Atlantic Ocean and spend the summers nesting on small islands along the coast. Puffins dig burrows and lay one egg in the burrow. The chick remains in the burrow until it is nearly fully fledged.
We saw a couple of whales while we were out. People living along the coast will text the boat if they see a whale, which was the case today. Capelin (a small fish) have come into the bay and whales follow them in. This whale was pushing the capelin up to the rocks making it easier to feed. The Gulls were taking advantage of the situation.
SHIPS AHOY!!!! As we were driving down highway 10, we spotted boats in a pond. Turns out the fellow across the road builds and sells model boats. He even has small boats with docks and people.
Ferryland was founded in 1621 by Lord Baltimore. This is the Ferryland lighthouse. Some enterprising people office picnics at the lighthouse. You pre-order your picnic and pick it up at the light keepers house.
Interesting weather today. One minute you were in the sun, next minute you were in fog. Makes for some great photographs.
The island on the left of photo has sheep grazing on it. The sheep are taken out to the island in the summer.
The East Coast Trail is 540 kilometers long (265 kilometers of it have maps and signage). The trail follows the east coast of the Avalon Peninsula. We walked a couple of kilometers of it.
Zaph's favourite cove.
After researching all the Puffin and Whale Watching Tours, we chose Molly Bawn Whale and Puffin Tours. It is a smaller boat that holds 12 people but it's still big enough to keep the cameras dry. Ed and I were lucky and were the only people on the 5:30 tour today. The ladies asked what we were most interested in and we answered Puffins, so they choose a route that would give us good views of puffins. Not only did we see puffins but we saw Kittiwakes, Razorbills, Black Guillemots, Murres and Humpback Whales.
Black-legged Kittiwake like to nest on small rock ledges.
The Atlantic Puffin is the smallest of the three Puffins, with a length of 12.5 inches, wing span of 21 inches and a weight of 13 ounces. The other two puffins being the tufted and horned that are found along the west coast.
Sometimes you just have to run on the water before you can take off.
The puffins winter in the Atlantic Ocean and spend the summers nesting on small islands along the coast. Puffins dig burrows and lay one egg in the burrow. The chick remains in the burrow until it is nearly fully fledged.
We saw a couple of whales while we were out. People living along the coast will text the boat if they see a whale, which was the case today. Capelin (a small fish) have come into the bay and whales follow them in. This whale was pushing the capelin up to the rocks making it easier to feed. The Gulls were taking advantage of the situation.