Colony Cape SM Gannet

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Seabird Colonies | Cape St. Mary | Gannets Kittiwakes

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Cape St. Mary Birds

Northern Gannet

Black-legged Kittiwake

Second Largest Gannet Colony in North America

Cape St. Mary has the second largest Gannetry in North America with 6,000 pairs of birds. Your first view of the Gannets is from the visitor's center near the parking lot. Be sure to sit here on the bench and just enjoy the view and all the bird activity in the area.

Bird Rock
After you enjoy the view from the Visitor Center, you can walk about 1/2 mile to the observation ledge close to the Gannets nesting on a sea stack called Bird Rock. The stack is totally separated from the main cliff, but only about 20 feet away. Notice the Gannets covering the top of cliff in the background and the Kittiwake nests on the ledges on the side of the cliff.

The Gannet nests are on the top of the stack and down the sides. There is perpetual activity with birds flying in and out and pairs greeting one another. The sounds of the Kittiwakes and Gannets are constant.

Be Very Careful
Viewing the birds requires standing on the edge of cliff. The observation area is small and nothing protects you from falling 250 feet down to the rocks. Be very careful here of taking photographs. While you are not looking someone else can come along and accidentally bump you while putting up a tripod. This is no place for small children. I was here in June before the big tourist season, but I shared the area with several other people. I can imagine that in July this place could be quite crowded. The Provincial Park Service is not as concerned about law suits as the National Park Service in the U.S. Take responsibility for your own safety.

A long dangerous fall awaits the careless birder at Cape St. Mary.

Gannet Behaviors
Find a safe place to sit and enjoy watching the Gannets for a time.

The Gannets are very busy pair bonding, squablling over territory, preening and incubating their eggs.

Each returning bird starts a territory squabble. Despite nesting in dense colonies, a Gannet defends his or her territory around the nest.

Gannets are heavy birds and like to launch into flight from a high cliff.

Gannets build nests of grass and twigs. Nesting sites on the edge of the cliff are preferred. Perhaps because the returning bird must run a gauntlet of angry neighbors to reach his or her nest.

Notice the Gannet in the lower right of this picture is holding a pebble in its mouth.

Black-legged Kittiwake
The Kittiwake is a small beautiful gull which frequents our coast in winter. Ten thousand pairs of Black-legged Kittiwake nest on the narrow ledges of the cliffs at Cape St. Mary. A gull, the Kittiwake must have fresh water to drink.

The Kittiwake builds a nest of grass and twigs and lays 1-2 eggs. They were named for their call which is a relatively high pitched 3 syllable phase that someone thought sounded like "Kit ti wake".

Notice in the photograph , the photographer is looking down on the bird. There are not many places where you can do this.

Kittiwake Nests Line The Narrow Ledges.
In the picture to the left a flying Gannet approaches Bird Rock for a landing. The little white spots on every ledge in the cliff in the background are Kittiwakes.

For more information on the Black-legged Kittiwake see Seabirds -Gulls- Black-legged Kittiwake.

Close Neighbors

The left bird has a chick in the nest and the bird to the right has two eggs.

Notice the narrow ledge on which the nests are built. If the ledge were wider it would probably be taken by a Murre or Gannet.

Nesting on ledges protects the birds from mammals like foxes. Unfortunately rats can probably negotiate the cliffs at will.