With more than 350 species of bird in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, this is one destination high on the bucket list for birdwatchers, twitchers and wildlife enthusiasts alike.
Not only is this the seabird capital of North America – more than 35 million seabirds call this place home – but Newfoundland is also loved by rare feathered friends that are infrequently spotted anywhere else.
Newfoundland and Labrador make up the most eastern province of Canada and it’s famed for being settled by Vikings more than 1,000 years ago.
This cultural history can be witnessed in the buildings, festivals, events and music, but this sparsely populated province is also home to 29,000 kilometres of coastline. The remoteness of the area and the beauty of the natural landscapes culminate to provide the perfect environment for a variety of wildlife.
Look up to the sky and you’ll spot whole flocks of seabirds, the sheer numbers attributed to the surrounding rocky islands that are free from predators, allowing their numbers to thrive.
Here are a few of the birds you’ll likely spot in Newfoundland and Labrador, and while it’s recommended you bring your binoculars during a trip, you’ll get so close that you might not even need them at all.
There are more than 3 million pairs of Leach’s Storm-Petrels on Baccalieu Island and a further 600 thousand pairs on Witless Bay Ecological Reserve. Despite their numbers, it can be hard to spot them during the day as they spend much of their time out at sea hunting for food, including small fish and plankton. They can be spotted at night when they come back to the island and find respite in their underground burrows.
Also known as the thin-billed murre, these birds create quite a show on the rocky crags and cliffs in Newfoundland when they return to shore after a day out at sea in search of food.
Razorbills are a rare variety of seabird found in Newfoundland and Labrador. These birds only come to land to breed and partner up with their mate for life.
Atlantic puffins, known as the parrots of the sea, spend most of their time out in the ocean and then return to land to breed. Witless Bay Reserve in Newfoundland has the largest colony of Atlantic puffins, with around 26,000 pairs calling the area home.
Black guillemot lay their eggs on rocky sites close to the ocean and as well as Newfoundland can be found in western Europe, Ireland, Iceland and Scotland.
Part of the gull family the black-legged kittiwake is said to gets its name from the sound it makes – kittee-wa-aaake, kitte-wa-aaake.
Mostly white with black-tipped wings and yellow faces, the northern gannet is Newfoundland’s largest seabird. Diving into the ocean to catch their prey, their skulls have evolved with extra reinforcement to cushion the blow on impact into the sea.
Native to Newfoundland and Labrador, the great horned owl is usually found in the forests and open woodlands of the area. The interesting bird will eat its prey entirely, including small birds and mice but then later regurgitates the fur and bones, which they cannot digest.