Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve is an ecological reserve located near

Cape St. Mary's The headland of Cape St. Mary's is located at the southern tip of the south-western arm of the Avalon Peninsula of the island of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Cape St. Mary's is probably one of the most well ...

on the Cape Shore, on the southwestern Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland. CapeStMarysBirdRock23

It is home to one of North America's largest seabird colonies. The government of Newfoundland and Labrador estimates that the site is home to 24,000

northern gannet The northern gannet (''Morus bassanus'') is a seabird, the largest species of the gannet family, Sulidae. It is native to the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, breeding in Western Europe and Northeastern North America. It is the largest seabird in t ...

s, 20,000 black-legged kittiwakes, 20,000

common murre The common murre or common guillemot (''Uria aalge'') is a large auk. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring in low-Arctic and boreal waters in the North Atlantic and North Pacific. It spends most of its time at sea, only coming to land to ...

s, and 2,000

thick-billed murre The thick-billed murre or Brünnich's guillemot (''Uria lomvia'') is a bird in the auk family (Alcidae). This bird is named after the Danish zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich. The very deeply black North Pacific subspecies ''Uria lomvia arra'' ...

s, as well as dozens or hundreds of

razorbill The razorbill, razor-billed auk, or lesser auk (''Alca torda'') is a colonial seabird and the only extant member of the genus '' Alca'' of the family Alcidae, the auks. It is the closest living relative of the extinct great auk (''Pinguinis im ...

, and black guillemot breeding pairs. The ocean waters off the reserve also provides winter habitat for

harlequin duck The harlequin duck (''Histrionicus histrionicus'') is a small sea duck. It takes its name from Harlequin (French ''Arlequin'', Italian ''Arlecchino''), a colourfully dressed character in Commedia dell'arte. The species name comes from the Latin ...

common eider The common eider (pronounced ) (''Somateria mollissima''), also called St. Cuthbert's duck or Cuddy's duck, is a large ( in body length) sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It breed ...

scoter The scoters are stocky seaducks in the genus ''Melanitta''. The drakes are mostly black and have swollen bills, the females are brown. They breed in the far north of Europe, Asia, and North America, and winter farther south in temperate zones o ...

s, and

long-tailed duck The long-tailed duck (''Clangula hyemalis''), formerly known as oldsquaw, is a medium-sized sea duck that breeds in the tundra and taiga regions of the arctic and winters along the northern coastlines of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It is th ...

s. The reserve has been designated an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. In addition to the numerous birds, humpback whales may be viewed from the heights during the annual

capelin The capelin or caplin (''Mallotus villosus'') is a small forage fish of the smelt family found in the North Atlantic, North Pacific and Arctic oceans. In summer, it grazes on dense swarms of plankton at the edge of the ice shelf. Larger capelin ...

run. The area protected by the reserve also includes sub-Arctic

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...

, a mainly treeless plateau bordering the ocean. Cape St

Facilities include an interpretive centre, parking and washrooms. A footpath from the centre leads to a viewing location a few hundred metres from "Bird Rock", a large

sea stack A stack or sea stack is a geology, geological landform consisting of a steep and often vertical column or columns of rock in the sea near a coast, formed by Coastal_erosion#Wave_action, wave erosion. Stacks are formed over time by wind and wate ...

with several thousand nesting gannets. Other nesting locations can also be viewed from shore. A lighthouse is also located near the interpretive centre. As is true for many parts of Newfoundland, fog can be encountered at any time of day. Care should be taken near cliff edges. Inside the interpretive centre, visitors will also fin
The Rookery Nature Store
operated by th
Friends of Cape St. Mary's

References

Official web site
* ''Cape St. Mary's: Guide to the Ecological Reserve'', Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (1996) {{ISBN, 1-55146-036-X
Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve
Introductory brochure Parks in Newfoundland and Labrador Nature reserves in Newfoundland and Labrador Important Bird Areas of Newfoundland