During the summer months over
30 000 nesting pairs of black-legged kittiwakes,
cormorants, gulls, thick-billed murres, common
murres, razor-billed auks, northern gannets,
and black guillemots breed in the rookeries
of Cape St. Mary Ecological Reserve. Late in
the 19th century, thousands of gannets began
to nest on the isolated 100-metre high sea stack
now known as Bird Rock, where they were protected
from land- based predators. About the size of
a large goose, they had been hunted for centuries
on Funk Island, the site of their original nesting
colony and former home of their cousin the great
auk, hunted to extinction by 1844. More recently,
the accumulation of toxic chemicals and oil
pollution threatens the gannet colonies. With
a wing span of nearly two metres, they can glide
for hours over the waves then suddenly plunge
from a great height, straight down, propelled
deep underwater by powerful webbed feet in pursuit
of caplin, herring and squid. In early June,
they lay a single large white egg in a nest
of dried seaweed clinging to a high ledge on
the nearly vertical walls of Bird Rock or the
mainland cliffs. Chicks hatch in July when the
caplin is most abundant and by September they
are all on their way to Florida. The common
murre, about the size of a small duck, lands
only to breed and raise its young. Also a member
of the auk family, it flies and lands clumsily,
spending nearly its entire life far out at sea
swimming on the surface or diving as deep as
100 metres in pursuit of small fish. Almost
90% of the eastern North American common murres
breed in dense colonies on the coastal cliffs
and islands of Newfoundland. The razorbill,
one of the smallest of the auk family, breeds
in rock crevices or under rock slabs and boulders
and spends the winter at sea. Populations of
both the common and thick-billed murre and the
razorbill have been seriously reduced by habitat
disturbance, hunting, oil pollution and fisheries
development. Winter and summer, kittiwakes can
be seen wheeling and turning far out to sea
searching for food close to the surface or following
fishing boats looking for scraps. Their black
legs and wingtips are the most distinguishing
features on this pretty little gull that nests
in high densities to protect the eggs and young
from predators such as ravens and herring gulls.
The area also supports populations of seaducks
- oldsquaw, scoters and eiders including the
endangered Harlequin duck that may number 30
- 40 birds annually.
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