Consisting of four islands in Witless Bay, the reserve is North America’s largest Atlantic puffin colony with over 260,000 pairs nesting here during the late spring and summer. In fact, every summer, more than a million pairs of birds gather here, including puffins, kittiwakes, storm petrels and murres. Tour boats sail to the islands, hugging the shore beneath sheer cliffs and giving you a shrieking earful as well as an eyeful.
The reserve spans roughly 12 km from its northern edge above Gull Island to its southern edge below Great Island. Sailing between them, you’ll find that each of the islands has its own distinct ecological makeup, geological features, and character.
