The puffins are a lot smaller than you'd imagine - only about 7 inches high and weighing about a pound or so. They can fly up to 80 km/h and you can always spot them in the air because their wings flap twice as fast as any of the other birds.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Bay Bulls Boat Tour
Today we drove out to the village of Bay Bulls, about 30 min. from St. John's, to take a tour with O'Brien's Puffin and Whale tours. Our boat left the harbour in Bay Bulls and toured us through the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, home to millions of seabirds and, if you're lucky, a whale or two. The sheer number of birds was mind-boggling; the island we passed was literally black with murres, kittiwakes, gulls, and of course everyone's favourite, the North Atlantic puffin.
Here's Loyola, our animated tour guide, getting the crowd going with a rollicking Newfoundland sea song. Sadly, we did not come upon any whales today, as the season is getting late. But, as Loyola pointed out, "This is Newfoundland, b'ys (boys), not Disneyland!"
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLNPIUUAeNySCKk5mw68hb8nUgvT0-EtMVefVMNucke8fWOuzYExfygagBl5Vn6fsyuDaEAr-0hgMepIFjXnSCfIcCIWeC9XlbDhZr79dEsxTVRGszsi1Ov0FPWF9eM_SOqaK02fT4Jk3j/s400/2099-08-06+050+sml.JPG)
The puffins are a lot smaller than you'd imagine - only about 7 inches high and weighing about a pound or so. They can fly up to 80 km/h and you can always spot them in the air because their wings flap twice as fast as any of the other birds.
You'll have to look closely at this picture (or click to enlarge it) to make out the thousands of murres nesting here.
This is what is known as a sea stack, a rock formation jutting out of the water. The coastline of Newfoundland is unbelievably rugged and rocky, and the different colours and layers of rock make for amazing scenery. There was actually a bald eagle on one of these treetops, although it doesn't show up in my photo.
The puffins are a lot smaller than you'd imagine - only about 7 inches high and weighing about a pound or so. They can fly up to 80 km/h and you can always spot them in the air because their wings flap twice as fast as any of the other birds.
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