Baccalieu Island Ecological Reserve

Last updated March 12, 2019

Baccalieu Island Ecological Reserve is a wildlife reserve located on an island off the northeastern tip of Bay de Verde Peninsula (part of the Avalon Peninsula) of Newfoundland.

Wildlife traditionally refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, forests, rain forests, plains, grasslands and other areas including the most developed urban areas, all have distinct forms of wildlife. While the term in popular culture usually refers to animals that are untouched by human factors, most scientists agree that much wildlife is affected by human activities.

The Bay de Verde Peninsula is the largest peninsula that makes up part of the Avalon Peninsula, of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The peninsula separates both Trinity and Conception Bay.

The Avalon Peninsula is a large peninsula that makes up the southeast portion of the island of Newfoundland. It is 9,220 square kilometres (3,560 sq mi) in size.

Baccalieu Island is the largest seabird island in Newfoundland and supports the greatest diversity of breeding seabirds in Eastern North America. The island supports the largest known colony of Leach's storm petrel in the world, approximately 40% of the global population and about 70% of the western Atlantic population of this species. It is a nesting area for 11 breeding species:

Seabirds are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations. The first seabirds evolved in the Cretaceous period, and modern seabird families emerged in the Paleogene.

The Leach's storm petrel or Leach's petrel is a small seabird of the tubenose order. It is named after the British zoologist William Elford Leach. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek. Oceanodroma is from okeanos, "ocean" and dromos, "runner", and leucorhoa is from leukos, "white" and orrhos, "rump".

Atlantic puffin (45,000 pairs - approximately 12% of the eastern North America population) at Puffin Island;
Black-legged kittiwake (13,000 - approximately 5 to 7% of the western Atlantic breeding population); and
Northern gannet (677 pairs - approximately 1.5% of the North American population).
Northern fulmar
Black guillemot
Common murre
Thick-billed murre
Razorbill
Herring gull
Great black-backed gull

The Atlantic puffin, also known as the common puffin, is a species of seabird in the auk family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean; two related species, the tufted puffin and the horned puffin, are found in the northeastern Pacific. The Atlantic puffin breeds in Iceland, Norway, Greenland, Newfoundland, and the Faroe Islands, and as far south as Maine in the west and the west coast of Ireland and parts of the United Kingdom in the east. Although it has a large population and a wide range, the species has declined rapidly, at least in parts of its range, resulting in it being rated as vulnerable by the IUCN. On land, it has the typical upright stance of an auk. At sea, it swims on the surface and feeds mainly on small fish, which it catches by diving under water, using its wings for propulsion.

The black-legged kittiwake is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae.

The northern gannet is a seabird, the largest species of the gannet family, Sulidae. It is native to the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, breeding in Western Europe and North America. The sexes are similar in appearance. The adult northern gannet has a mainly white streamlined body with a long neck, long and slender wings. It is 87–100 cm (34–39 in) long with a 170–180 cm (67–71 in) wingspan. The head and nape have a buff tinge that is more prominent in breeding season, and the wings are edged with dark brown-black feathers. The long pointed bill is blue-grey, contrasting with black bare skin around the mouth and eyes. Juveniles are mostly grey-brown, becoming increasingly white in the five years it takes them to reach maturity.

The island also includes one of the largest winter populations of eider in Newfoundland.

Eiders are large seaducks in the genus Somateria. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek somatos "body" and erion "wool", referring to eiderdown.

External links

Official web site

Coordinates: 48°07′35″N52°48′12″W / 48.12639°N 52.80333°W / 48.12639; -52.80333

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The tufted puffin, also known as crested puffin, is a relatively abundant medium-sized pelagic seabird in the auk family (Alcidae) found throughout the North Pacific Ocean. It is one of three species of puffin that make up the genus Fratercula and is easily recognizable by its thick red bill and yellow tufts.

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