June 24, 2014. Tuesday. Whitbourne to Witless Bay

Today was all about the birds -- some 4 million birds breed in the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, a collection of four offshore islands on the east coast of Newfoundland.

For 30 years, Liz and I have dreamt about visiting Newfoundland, and by "Newfoundland" we mean these breeding bird colonies. Thirty years of anticipation did not disappoint.

We boarded the O'Briens tour boat, the good ship Atlantic Puffin for a two hour tour. We set out and soon found a humpback whale. The other passengers were way too excited about the whale to care about birds, so we spent some quality time with the big beast, which I must admit was quite cooperative.

Eventually we made it to Gull Island, one of the four in the reserve. The waters about the island were peppered with puffins and murre, and the sky was filled with countless birds in singles and groups. When we made it around to the nesting side, we were thrilled to be only a few yards from countless numbers of nesting kittiwakes, razorbills, thick-billed and common murre, and of course: puffins!

We drove a bit south and set up camp early at La Manche Provincial Park. Relaxing in the afternoon sun, we listened to the song of a Blue-headed Vireo while Liz cooked dinner.

Note: All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate.
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