Puffins

Bonavista, Newfoundland

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Bonavista is one of the oldest towns in Newfoundland. “Discovered” (it would be better to say “claimed”) in 1497 by Italian explorer John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto).

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Cape Bonavista Lighthouse 1843 is one of the oldest in Newfoundland
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A replica of John Cabot’s ship; “Matthew” is housed in the tall blue building for repairs and over winter. Inside the building, there is a history exhibit called “The Matthew Legacy”
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The Matthew
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This is “The Dungeon” at Dungeon Provincial State Park. It is a huge collapsed sea cave (called a “gloup”). Clear greenish-blue seawater sloshes in and out of this hole through two archways to the Atlantic. For scale, there are a couple people on the path at upper right.

One of the great things about Newfoundland is that is is still very ‘natural’. There is a dirt road and a gravel parking lot to this natural wonder. There are no guardrails or concession stands or other developments to distract from the moment and just enjoying ‘being there’. We found this to be the case throughout Newfoundland and enjoyed it very much.
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Colorful, enormous, slabs of rock tilted on edge were a common sight in Newfoundland

Each evening we went to see the nesting puffins at “Ellison Puffin Sanctuary & Root Cellars”. They nest on islands just off the coast.

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Puffins – Witless Bay Ecological Reserve

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We took a boat tour from “Gatherall’s Puffin and Whale Watch” of Witless Bay which turned out to be just awesome. The boat took us out to several islands comprising the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve. This is the largest Atlantic puffin colony in North America.

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Puffin Colony: each white dot is a cute little puffin on a nest. The puffins prefer grassy areas.
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Photos above, closeup of puffins.
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Photos below, puffins taking off & landing.
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Puffins everywhere, on the island, in the water, and in the sky.
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This island was covered in nesting Common Murres/Guillemots. They prefer the bare rock areas.
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Common Murres/Guillemots on the bare rock and puffins in the grassy area.
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It clouded up and started raining as we were finishing up. The birds were feeding on the water and ‘parted’ as the boat came through. The puffins often had beaks full of little fish hanging out.

Below are some of the colorful, rugged sea-shore rocks along the coast.

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