Ok somebody mentioned puffins and now I’m interested

[spleenstomper]

Hello again, DH and I are on Zaandam April 29 Montréal to Boston with the usual stops: Quebec city, Charlottetown, St. John, Bar Harbor etc. if I can find the itinerary I’ll attach. 
 

We haven’t booked anything yet other than the cruise. No reservations, no excursions. In looking around here someone mentioned wanting to see puffins, and now I must see puffins lol. 
 

Will early May be conducive to this? Thank you. I guess I’ll look up puffin migration 

[bookbabe]

You are unlikely to see puffins at any of these stops.  You want stops in Newfoundland or Labrador for that.

 

https://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/what-we-do/resource-centre/featured-species/birds/atlantic-puffin.html

 

[spleenstomper]

On 3/5/2023 at 8:11 AM, bookbabe said:

You are unlikely to see puffins at any of these stops.  You want stops in Newfoundland or Labrador for that.

 

https://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/what-we-do/resource-centre/featured-species/birds/atlantic-puffin.html

 

Thank you 

[martincath]

There are certainly more puffins in Newfie, but there are multiple puffin nesting sites around Nova Scotia. Both your Halifax and Sydney stops would be feasible to do one from - if you were visiting a month later (the puffins will be on land by early May, breeding, but until they actually lay eggs later in May, even June further south, it's irresponsible to visit the islands - visiting earlier would disturb their breeding so while there may be some people there for science, tourist trips close to the nesting burrows are scheduled only after the eggs are laid). It's also easier to see the birds once their eggs hatch - the parents start constantly shuttling back & forth to catch fish for their voracious little pufflings

 

The 2023 NS puffin tourist season begins May 21st for Bird Island (who guarantee you'll see puffins in season) out of Baddeck, which is an hours drive from Sydney; tours to Pearl Island begin in June from Peggy's Cove, which is less than an hour from Halifax. If you're mad keen to see them, and even handle some Pufflings, consider a trip to Iceland in August/September - a major colony there is too close to a town, the lights confuse the new crop of birds, so there's an active 'Puffin Patrol' nightly to safely gather them up and release them further out of town!

[spleenstomper]

21 hours ago, martincath said:

There are certainly more puffins in Newfie, but there are multiple puffin nesting sites around Nova Scotia. Both your Halifax and Sydney stops would be feasible to do one from - if you were visiting a month later (the puffins will be on land by early May, breeding, but until they actually lay eggs later in May, even June further south, it's irresponsible to visit the islands - visiting earlier would disturb their breeding so while there may be some people there for science, tourist trips close to the nesting burrows are scheduled only after the eggs are laid). It's also easier to see the birds once their eggs hatch - the parents start constantly shuttling back & forth to catch fish for their voracious little pufflings

 

The 2023 NS puffin tourist season begins May 21st for Bird Island (who guarantee you'll see puffins in season) out of Baddeck, which is an hours drive from Sydney; tours to Pearl Island begin in June from Peggy's Cove, which is less than an hour from Halifax. If you're mad keen to see them, and even handle some Pufflings, consider a trip to Iceland in August/September - a major colony there is too close to a town, the lights confuse the new crop of birds, so there's an active 'Puffin Patrol' nightly to safely gather them up and release them further out of town!

EEERRRRMMMAHHHGGGAAADD, I would be happy just seeing one puffin where I could make out it’s a puffin, but this puffin patrol in Iceland (on the bucket list anyway) sounds like me. Lol. Thank you for telling me about it. 

[roomba920]

You could also go to the Bio Dome while in Montreal. They have puffins there.

[spleenstomper]

On 3/7/2023 at 11:35 PM, roomba920 said:

You could also go to the Bio Dome while in Montreal. They have puffins there.

Thank you very much for the recommendation. I’m off to google. 

[CGinMTL]

I was also wanting to see a puffin on my transatlantic cruise 

Then years later , I visited the biodome and there it was. Everybody was looking at the penguins, and I was looking at the puffin right next door 

Hihi