Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve

During peak breeding season, Cape St. Mary’s hosts over 100,000 seabirds, including:

• 30,000 Northern Gannets
• 20,000 Black-legged Kittiwakes
• 20,000 Common Murres
• 2,000 Thick-billed Murres
• Plus smaller colonies of Razorbills, Black Guillemots, Cormorants, and Northern Fulmars

Bird Rock is a towering sea stack just meters from the cliffside viewing area and is a living canvas of feathers and flight. The walk out to the viewing area is about a mile over a relatively good, but at times rocky, trail. When we visited, only the gannets remain who are still raising their young.

Approaching Bird Rock is an assault on the senses. There is a cacaphony of sound from the birds. You can also smell the strong acrid scent off the colony. And when you arrive to the viewing area the scene is alive with birds flying everywhere. It's amazing.

Northern Gannets are among the most captivating seabirds in the world. With their golden crowns, piercing blue eyes, and six-foot wingspans, they cut a striking figure against the cliffs.

Here are a few fun facts about gannets:

• They mate for life. Gannet pairs reunite each season with elaborate bill-fencing rituals and mutual preening.
• They lay only one egg per year, investing deeply in parental care.
• Only 1/3 of newborn gannets will survive the first year.
• They dive from heights of up to 30 meters, hitting the water at speeds over 100 km/h to catch fish.
• Gannets can live up to 35 years, returning to the same nesting site annually.Read more