Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve

Northern Gannet

Peak

Mid June to mid July. Peak nesting, and the peak of the fog season, which here is the point rather than the problem.

Days needed

5 days

Behaviour

Nesting, Courtship / display, Mass aggregation

Coat

Breeding plumage

Habitat

Green season / lush

Crowds

Quiet

Also here

Common and thick billed murre (the southernmost breeding thick billed murres in the world), black legged kittiwake, razorbill, black guillemot, cormorant, northern fulmar. Humpback and minke offshore in season, and the Avalon coastline itself in fog is worth shooting as landscape.

Light

46.8 degrees N, the lowest latitude of any window here, and on paper the worst: max solar altitude around 67 degrees in late June, so a clear midday is unshootable. The reason this window still rates highest is that clear middays are not what this place does. The Labrador Current running under warm moist southerly air makes the Avalon one of the foggiest coasts anywhere, and fog here regularly sits all day, which converts the entire daylight period into a giant softbox. The trade is that fog can be thick enough to hide Bird Rock completely. Call the reserve before driving out (+1 709 277 1666). Sunrise around 05:00 and sunset around 21:00 in late June. West facing, so clear evenings are the best of the non fog outcomes.

Weather risk

Fog / mist (asset) and High wind

Atmosphere

Fog is the whole trip. It separates birds from a background that would otherwise be a cluttered guano covered stack, collapses the scene to tone, and gives near monochrome straight out of camera. Wind is constant and holds birds stationary in the updraft off the chasm.

Permits

Free. Visitors are asked to check in at the visitor centre, which operates seasonally, roughly mid May to mid October; outside those dates the interpretation centre is closed and the colony is gone anyway. The reserve itself is not gated, so soft light hours are not blocked by opening times, which is rare for a site this good. Unfenced 100 m cliffs, slippery in fog. Service dogs only. Verify drone rules with NL provincial parks: assume no.

Getting there

Fly to St John's, then roughly 2.5 hours by car (200 km) on Route 100. Stay in St Bride's or Branch so you are 20 minutes out rather than 2.5 hours, which is the difference between using a fog window and missing it. Car essential. Trail is grassy, uneven and not wheelchair accessible. Cost below is on the ground only and excludes international flights.

Who runs trips here: None needed, self drive and walk in. On site interpreters at the centre are knowledgeable and worth talking to about current colony counts. Eagle-Eye Tours runs a Grand Newfoundland birding tour that includes it if you want it guided, but that buys you nothing photographically.

Confidence: medium · Last verified 20 Sept 2026