July 28, 2024 – Avalon Peninsula, Eastern Newfoundland Coast


Sunday, we took a drive along Placentia Bay to the southwestern tip of the Avalon Peninsula.  We stopped at Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve to view one of the most accessible sea bird colonies in North America.  Since 1983, this area has been protected as a provincial Ecological Reserve.  The views were spectacular as we hiked along the cliffs.




We started seeing birds at Bird Cove. The cliffs are home to:  Northern Gannet, Common Murre, Black-Legged Kittiwake, Razorbill, Black Guillemot, Cormorants, and Thick-Billed Murre.






The waves crashing against the rock formations were spectacular.






Wild Iris – we have seen these beautiful flowers almost everywhere we have hiked in Newfoundland.







More beautiful cliffs.








Not sure what these purple bell-shaped flowers are but they were very pretty.






Bird Rock had hundreds of nesting pairs of Northern Gannets.






Their golden heads were beautiful to see up close.   We enjoyed watching the birds for a while but the noise the smell was a little overwhelming.





Across from the Interpretative Center was Cape St. Mary’s Lighthouse.  Originally built as a brick tower in 1859-60, it was first covered with concrete and encased in a cylinder of cast-iron sheets in 1885, and then covered in poured concrete in the mid-1950s giving it its current form.  The lighthouse was built to provide guidance to fishing and supply boats entering Placentia and St. Mary’s Bays.




The cliffs behind the lighthouse were a great place to watch the waves crashing against the rocks.

We had a great hike and enjoyed seeing the beautiful cliffs and the birds.






We left Cape St. Mary’s and drove north along the St. Mary’s Bay side of the peninsula.  We stopped at Cataracts Provincial Park and hiked down to be bottom of this beautiful waterfall.








On our way back up we had a great view of the bridge where the Jeep is parked.







On the opposite side of the bridge, we found another beautiful waterfall.   This was a very peaceful and beautiful provincial park.

We had another long, but fulfilling day.


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