New foundland & Labrador: millions of birds. No zoom lens required

Gannets, murres, kittiwakes. Storm-petrels, ospreys, gulls. Razorbills, ravens and "foxy toms." More than 350 species of birds. Newfoundland and Labrador is the seabird capital of North America. Quite likely the best place in the world to view them up close in their natural habitat. Very close. More than 95 percent of all seabirds that congregate here gather in approachable protected reserves--some 9.5 million pairs. Nowhere else are the cacophonous sounds and colorful personalities of these marine creatures so accessible.

At Witless Bay Ecological Reserve--a short drive from St. John's--board a boat, don your hat, and look up. Our provincial bird, the puffin, nests here in staggering numbers. Newfoundland and Labrador is the true home of the Atlantic puffin; over 90 percent of the continent's entire population lives here. These stout, wobbly little "sea parrots" are amazing swimmers and fishers. Knowledgeable boat-tour operators can point out where the puffins burrow into the soft earth, creating thousands of nesting holes.

Go inland to see falcons and hawks, boreal owls, and the place where the eagle has landed. The province is home to one of the largest American bald eagle populations in North America.

Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve, an award winning destination, is the most accessible seabird colony in the western hemisphere. Here the gannet population is so tightly clustered you wonder if they'll land on each other. But they're too graceful for that. Hoping to see a Leach's storm-petrel?

Birds by the millions, and so close. Rare and common, with flights arriving daily. A place truly for the birds.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Natural History Magazine, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning