| Baccalieu Island Ecological Reserve
www.env.gov.nl.ca/parks/wer/r_bie/
Birds
on Baccalieu Island
Baccalieu Island Ecological Reserve is located at the end of the Bay de Verde Peninsula at the entrance to Conception Bay. The ecological reserve is located two miles off shore and includes the island itself and an extra kilometre of ocean around its cost, making the total reserve area 23 sq km.
Ecological Significance
Baccalieu Island is the largest seabird island
in Newfoundland and supports 11 species of seabirds, the greatest diversity of breeding
seabirds in Eastern North America.
 The island hosts Leach's Storm Petrels, plus thousands of puffins and black-legged kittiwakes and other birds each summer. The foxes that share the island with the birds rarely go hungry! Baccalieu Island supports
the largest known colony of Leach's Storm-Petrel (locally known as Kerrys) in the
world, approximately 40% of the global population and about
70% of the western Atlantic population of this species.
 The
island also supports globally significant populations of
Atlantic Puffin (45,000 pairs - approximately 12% of the
eastern North America population second-largest puffin colony in North America (after the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve)
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). It is a site of one of only six colonies of Northern Gannet, as well as one of only three nesting sites for the Northern Fulmar. In addition, it has populations of Black Gillemont, Common Murre, Thick-billed Murre, Razorbill, Herring Gull, and Great Black-backed Gull. The island also has one of the largest winter populations of Eider Ducks in Newfoundland.
The Bay de Verde Website has further information on Baccalieu Island, including a map of the island showing where various species can be found. more >>
Visitors can see the Baccalieu Island exhibit in the Heritage House in Bay de Verde. Access to view the seabirds requires a boat trip.
Early European presence in North America
Baccalieu has been known to Europeans for some 500 years; its name appearing on Basque charts as early as 1503. The name baccalieu most probably derives from the Portuguese word for cod, and the existence of the rich fishery in the surrounding waters also explains why so many seabirds breed on its cliffs.
Written records of Baccalieu Island date back to the earliest days of European exploration of North America. The region has played an important role in the fishery for more than four centuries.The wrecks of more than a dozen ships lie under the waters that surround the island.
Place in Newfoundland history and folk music
There is an old sailor's adage: "Wherever you are,
steer northwest
for Baccalieu" which probably dates back to the earliest days of the migratory fishery.
Perhaps the most famous folk song about Baccalieu Island is the "Cliffs of Baccalieu" which has been recorded by a number of well known Newfoundland and Canadian musicians, including Stan Rodgers, Harry Hibbs (whose home town was Bell Island), John White and Ryan's Fancy.
Cliffs of Baccalieu
Written by T. Withers
We were bound home in October from the shores of Labrador
Trying to head a bad Nor'easter and snow, too
But the wind swept down upon us making day as black as night
Just before we made the land of Baccalieu.
Oh we tried to clear the Island as we brought her farther South
And the wind from out the Nor' east stronger blew
Till our lookout soon he shouted and there lay dead ahead
Through the snow squalls loomed the cliffs of Baccalieu.
It was hard down by the tiller as we struggled with the sheets
Tried our best to haul them in a foot or two
Till our decks so sharply tilted that we could barely keep our feet
As we hauled her from the rocks of Baccalieu.
Oh the combers beat her under and we thought she ne'er would rise
And her main boom was bending neigh in two
With our lee rails three feet under and two hands at the wheel
Sure, we hauled her from the rocks of Baccalieu.
Oh to leeward was the island and to win'ard was the gale
And the blinding sleet would cut you through and through
But our hearts were beating gladly for no longer could we gaze
Down to leeward at the cliffs of Baccalieu.
Dr. Phillip Hiscock of Memorial University has given the history of the song. He points out that "The Cliffs of Baccalieu" is about seventy-five years old and that it was actually written for a radio serial called The Irene B. Mellon, that ran between 1934 and 1941.
The song tells the story of a small schooner coming back to the Avalon Peninsula from a summer prosecuting the fishery "on the Labrador." The Labrador fishery still is a migratory one for many Conception Bay fishermen. At the height of the Labrador fishery, thousands of men, women and children travelled north in May and June, spending the summer catching and salting fish. In the fall months the schooners headed back to Newfoundland. This song depicts an incident which occurred when a crew was coming home from "The Labrador" on its way to either Carbonear or St. John's with a full load of salted fish caught during the fishing season.
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