First stop today is close to our AirBnB on the tip of the Bonavista Peninsula. It is Cape Bonavista Lighthouse and the surrounding area which has quite a few attractions. Besides the great views and the lighthouse there is a puffin colony nearby and the Cabot statue. But first we have to take the scenic route to the lighthouse as we hope to see some interesting birds and great views.
The views are really excellent but the birds are only common ones, including of course double-crested cormorants which are everywhere.
We enjoy the lonely bench set at a viewpoint before we notice there is a line of people waiting for the opportunity to take a photo, oops. So we continue on the trail passing the cairn fields of Bonavista, we would be interested to see how it came together, did one person start and then other people started adding or was there a concerted effort to start it from a group?
We are starting to approach the Bonavista Lighthouse on our roundabout route and the view of the lighthouse are only improving as we approach. What we don’t expect is the scenic shed right next to it, quite fun to imagine someone living there.
The lighthouse is brightly colored, likely the contrast is to be easily easily by the ships but we enjoy the color scheme. Entering it is via fee so we decide just to explore around it as we are more interested in the puffins.
The rock is visible for some time already and we have seen on eBird that puffins still have been sighted however it does not look hopeful. We keep an eye on it as we walk around and nothing small is visible, only gulls.
We spend some time on the closest viewing point seeing gull after gull flying and then…what is that small thing? We train our binoculars and camera on the bird and lo and behold it is a puffin. It is even carrying food to the nest, we wonder if there really still are chicks on the island. We are quite happy about this and take the W and return towards the car.
In fact there is one more stop right next to the lighthouse that can be reached on foot or via car and we decide car due to the time constraints. It is the statue of Cabot, the first English explorer that sighted and set foot on Newfoundland, arguably right around here.
We also explore a bit around and actually find interesting birds here including Whimbrels, Song Sparrows and even a Black-legged Kittiwake who supposedly already left for the season. So it is a successful stop and quite happy it is now time to return to Bonavista to explore the major National Historic Site in town, Ryan Premises.
