COASSTers!  Greetings from the south coast of Newfoundland, where I’m visiting the largest gannet (4-webbed!) colony in the province.  Here I am with Heidi Ballard, one of the COASST Advisory Board members.  It’s a bit of a windy day on Cape St. Mary’s, and the gannet are soaring in place over their colony.  Fabulous!  These birds are related to cormorants and pelicans (but, of course, you already knew that because of the Foot-type Family).

While at the colony, Heidi and I had the chance to walk the cliffs in search of partridge berries (like small slightly sweet cranberries) and bake apple (gotta say, this bog berry is a Newfoundland original!).  Of course, I found the wing of a young gull, and remnants of murre eggs.  Ever a COASSTer!

Newfoundland is a fantastic place for watching seabirds and whales, dining on cod, and touring through pristine sub-arctic wilderness.  The people are friendly and warm, and after I figured out that “turr” was actually “murre” we got along well!

Cheers,

J