Sunday we drove south to Cape St. Mary's, site of one of the largest nesting grounds for seabirds in North America. On the way, we stopped at the Salmonier Nature Trail, a 3 km boardwalk through the forest which houses various native animal and plant species. We were very impressed by this facility, not to mention the fact that it was free! The animals we saw included a moose, a snowy owl, a great horned owl, caribou, and this cute little artic fox, among many others.
Our journey continued down highway 90, which winds its way across the peninsula and then down the coast. It was incredible how little traffic we saw. We might pass a car going the other direction about every 30 minutes or so. The terrain also changed drastically as we drove. It started off very rocky and then turned to tundra - not a tree in sight for miles. And it's not like there was any farmland, either. Just miles and miles of nothing. In order to get to Cape St. Mary's, we had to drive off the main highway 13 km down a very narrow road (hardly big enough for 2 cars to pass). At the end, there was a small interpretive center, and a parking lot. It really seemed like the middle of nowhere. We had to hike about a mile over the hills to get to the viewing point of what they call Bird Island. It was a truly amazing site. The sea stack was literally covered with thousands and thousands of gannets, all making noise and many of them soaring overhead around the cove. Lower down on the ledges were other types of seabirds including murres and kittiwakes, but the gannets were definitely the most prominent and impressive. Clicking on the photos below will give a better sense of how many birds were there.
Here's Dave on his way to Bird Island - like I said, miles and miles of ... nothing.
Our journey continued down highway 90, which winds its way across the peninsula and then down the coast. It was incredible how little traffic we saw. We might pass a car going the other direction about every 30 minutes or so. The terrain also changed drastically as we drove. It started off very rocky and then turned to tundra - not a tree in sight for miles. And it's not like there was any farmland, either. Just miles and miles of nothing. In order to get to Cape St. Mary's, we had to drive off the main highway 13 km down a very narrow road (hardly big enough for 2 cars to pass). At the end, there was a small interpretive center, and a parking lot. It really seemed like the middle of nowhere. We had to hike about a mile over the hills to get to the viewing point of what they call Bird Island. It was a truly amazing site. The sea stack was literally covered with thousands and thousands of gannets, all making noise and many of them soaring overhead around the cove. Lower down on the ledges were other types of seabirds including murres and kittiwakes, but the gannets were definitely the most prominent and impressive. Clicking on the photos below will give a better sense of how many birds were there.
Here's Dave on his way to Bird Island - like I said, miles and miles of ... nothing.
hello... hapi blogging... have a nice day! just visiting here....
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