Birds, Birds and More Birds! (but no Puffins)

 Hullo, we arrived at our new Airbnb last night. It's a cute little house in a place called Placentia... which used to be called Plaisance when the French were here!

Today we are driving south (and it is windy)... to find a place called Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve.

This is a pretty desolate and barren place in Newfoundland...

Which is saying a LOT because most of NFLD is barren and desolate... but I did spot something off the side of the road...

Some weird flowers... that at first I thought were tulips...

But these are NOT tulips!! They are super weird...

So very strange... with small funnel leaves at the base...

We didn't get a picture of the leaves... but you can see them here...

My first thought was... it might be carnivorous... it just had that look about it....

Ooohhh... there are some old leaves!!!

Anyhow, we looked it up and learned it is the Pitcher Plant and it IS carniverous. Water and digestive enzymes gather in the leaves, which are shaped like pitchers. Bugs land to get a drink and drown because the enzymes eliminate the water tension (where bugs can normally sit on water)... It is also the province's Official Flower and Emblem! Go figure!

So... did I mention this was a desolate part of Newfoundland? We were here for about 15 minutes and nary a vehicle came by!

We then took a side road and finally got here!

We are at  the ecological reserve... we got a quick orientation (stay on the trails, stay away from cliff edges)... and headed off.

It was a big foggy/misty... but we should be ok...

Oooohh... over there!!!! That's not snow on the rocks... those are birds!!!!

Lots and lots of birds!!!!

So many birds... that you can even see them in Google Satelite view... All those nubbins... are birds!

It was a bit nippy this morning too!

Between the wind and the mist... oh... and I can smell the birds (or at least their poop) already!

It's another gorgeous piece of coastline.

Along the way... I found a few interesting plants...

This fern was fascinating with those centre fronds... it's apparently a Cinnamon Fern....

And this one was beary interesting... almost looked like an oak leave at various points. We think it's a Sensitive Fern...

We aren't at Bird Rock yet... but we can already see a lot of birds nesting on the cliffs here... well... mostly we can see their poop stains!

Birds make a LOT of poop... and I can see how being higher on the cliff is a more optimal position... cause no-one is pooping on your head!

We are almost there!

Oh wow... soooo many birds!!!

And there's the top of Bird Rock!!!

It's covered with the Northern Gannet... they have a 6 ft wingspan!

That's like... as big as an eagle!

And if you look closely... there are little fuzzy baby gannets as well

It was incredibly noisy here too...

Over here... you have other birds like sea gulls, murres, Black Guillemots and cormorants.

There's a definite pecking order in which types of birds have the upper floors, and which are relegated to the lower floors!

The murres are higher up the pecking order than the seagulls!

Whew... some fresh air finally... and some peace and quiet!

We headed back to Placentia and checked out a few historical sites. There were several forts here that guarded the harbour...

Who thinks this is a good photo idea???

There's a funky structure that bridges the narrow entrance to the harbour...

It's a lift bridge! The middle part just lifts straight up when boats want to pass through. We never saw it do it's thing... but we heard a noise like at a train crossing early in the mornings and figured that's what was happening here!

 Onwards to the next adventure!

Puffins and a Weird Claim to Fame

 Hullo!!! Today we are on the hunt for puffins!

Not literally "hunting" puffins of course... but trying to meet these little cutie pies.

I've never seen a puffin before...

But this is obviously a well-known site!

Let's see what we can find.

Oooh, this is pretty!!!

Some people nearby said they saw a puffin!!! We looked and...

Um... that is NOT a puffin!!! No orange beak... almost totally black with just a white bit of the wing... it's a Black Guillemot. Hmph.

But that... over there!! That is a puffin!!!

But there are supposed to be more of them around here...

Let's head that way, past that strange looking rock...

Over there looks good...

It's so beautiful here!

Ahhh!!! It's a puffin!!!

And another one...

oooh... they are so pretty.

We learned that this is their breeding plummage...

And that they come here to breed and nest... but the rest of the year, they are off in the middle of the ocean, floating around and eating little fish.

Apparently they are not great fliers... they often crash land in anything above a breeze... although they are little torpedos in the water.

Hmmm... seems we are doing with puffins what we did with lupines earlier!

Those puffins were about 10 feet away from us, behind a rope barrier... but most of them are over on this little island...

Puffins galore!!! They lay one egg every season, in a nest in a burrow. They will often steal rabbit burrows if they can!

Puffins mate for life and their little chick is called a Puffling...

A puffling... oh my goodness... cuteness magnified!

Oooh... a couple more puffins!!!

The males and females are beary similar and a bit hard to tell apart... The male is a bit larger and perhaps a bit brighter.

In the winter, when they are off at sea, they lose a lot of their colourful features and turn into rather dull looking birds - probably so predators have more trouble spotting them!

Here's a pic of a puffin outside of the breeding season! Rather dull!

Well, that was cool!! But it's not the only cool thing about this place...

It's the self-proclaimed Root Cellar Capital of the World!!

Bet you didn't know that was even a thing... neither did we!

They are made out of stacked stone, and lined with a coating of mortar. They always face east, because apparently an east wind never carries frost...

Oooh... let's take a peek inside!!

Errrr... ummm....

You know what... why don't YOU go in and scope it out....

This entrance way is called a Linhay and in the back there...

Are big crates (called pounds) for holding vegetables and stuff.

Oooh... another one!

OK... this one I am going to go into...

Ooohh...

Well, this is cool. Apparently Elliston (the place where we are) has over 130 root cellars...

From the backside... you'd never know they are there!

Those little fenced areas used to be vegetable gardens... maybe to keep sheep out?

Well, that was exciting... where to now??

Oh... another root cellar... ummm...

Ok. Yes, they are cute... as are the lupines and the puffins but... we are done with root cellars I think!

Oooh, one other thing I noticed here... there is this ground covering that looks like heather...

Seee... but... it has...

... little black berries... which we think is Crowberry. They are edible later in the season... we tried one and spat it out... too astringent right now.

And... wow... more root cellars... sigh... The oldest root cellar in Elliston was built in 1839 and is still in use today!

We learned a lot from some info plaques but then I saw it...

This little place is called Sandy Cove!!!!!

I'm Sandy!!!! I have to go there!!!

And... here we are except...

It looks pretty rocky to me...

Oooh... we just had to climb over the rock berm and...

There is a sandy cove here!

Ahem... named after moi perhaps??? Well... at least now I can say...

Sandy was at Sandy Cove...

Beary nice...