Cape St. Mary's

Bird Rock at Cape St. Mary's is a sea stack holding around twenty-four thousand northern gannets, and what makes the site exceptional is the proximity: a walk of about one and a half kilometres over open headland ends at a clifftop where the stack stands roughly thirty metres away, close enough to watch individual birds land, fight and feed chicks without optics. Murres, kittiwakes and razorbills nest on the surrounding cliffs. It is generally called the most accessible seabird colony in North America. The headland is exposed and often fogbound, and the walk crosses sheep pasture with unfenced cliff edges.

What you actually see

• Bird Rock - a gannet stack about thirty metres from the clifftop.
• The twenty-four thousand gannets - close enough to watch without binoculars.
• The murres and kittiwakes - other seabirds on the surrounding cliffs.
• The headland walk - one and a half kilometres over open sheep pasture.

When to go

June to August for the full colony; birds arrive in spring and leave by early autumn. Fog is very frequent here and can reduce visibility to metres even in July.

Honest expectations

Fog obscures the colony on a large share of days. The clifftop is unfenced with a sheer drop. The walk is exposed with no shelter in wind or rain.

Nearby

Placentia lies north; Ferryland is east across the peninsula.