PULCHRITUDINOUS NEWFOUNDLAND 2024
Plankton to Icebergs
by Dr. Robert Berdan
August 11, 2024 (updated August 13)
Our Newfoundland driving route during our 10 day journey between June 1 to June 10, 2024
Introduction
I visited Newfoundland ten years ago for the first time with friend and fellow photographer, Kamal Varma. We were both impressed with the natural beauty and how friendly the people were. At that time I vowed to bring my wife Donna one day and this past June that became a reality. Newfoundland is as pulchritudinous as ever, and many other tourists are also discovering its' beauty.
This time my goal was to photograph icebergs and get better photos of puffins. My previous articles and photos on Newfoundland are in articles on this web site that I linked to below. Since then my friend Kamal has visited a number of times. One other goal I had was to collect plankton for taking photomicrographs since I don't live near the ocean. On the last day we went to Petty Harbour with a plankton net and my wife assisted me collecting four vials of sea water before we flew back to Calgary. To my surprise many of the organisms survived the six hour flight home. That was a late night for me in Calgary taking pictures with my microscope. Some of my plankton photos are shown below near the bottom of the page.
One of the many puffins photographed near Elliston. The puffins normally are on an island separated by about 100 feet from the mainland, but due to crowding they were nesting within close proximity.
On this trip we rented a car and drove to the northern most region of the province and visited several new places. Though we only had 10 days, we made the most of it spending a day in St. John's and then travelling to the northern most region and as far west as Lark Harbour outside Corner Brook.
My wife spotted this iceberg in the bay by Saint Lunaire - Griquet outside of St. Anthony. The ice berg was about three stories high and close to shore. Once other folks saw us photographing the ice berg a small crowd gathered.
Kamal Varma's favourite seat photographing Gannets at Cape-St. Mary's, Newfoundland
There were thousands of Gannets at Cape St. Mary's, Newfoundland
Other birds nesting at Cape St. Mary's include common murre, black-legged kittiwakes and seagulls.
Donna in front of a root cellar near Elliston. Elliston is the root cellar capital of the world with more than 130 root cellars and many of them are still being used. Elliston is also one of the best places to photograph puffins. Note Donna is wearing a toque and gloves to keep warm.
Cliffs outside Elliston Newfoundland make for ideal nesting spots for puffins
Steep cliffs outside of Elliston, Newfoundland
Puffin colony on a small island outside of Elliston about 30 meters (100 feet) from the mainland
Puffins are a pleasure to watch though the fish they like to eat (capelin) had not arrived yet
Roadside creek near Musgrave Harbour with colourful buds on the tree branches
Creeks & trees with buds next to the hightway near Musgrave
In St. John's many of the streets have brightly painted buildings
St. Johns - row of coloured houses
Colorful mailbox and wreath on this home in St. John's Newfoundland
Houses viewed from the east side of St. John's Harbour Newfoundland
Fishing boats moored in St. John's Harbour Newfoundland
Why are many of the buildings on Newfoundland painted so colourful?
Historically sailors elected to paint their homes in bright colours to make them more visible, and stand out against the cool grey backdrop of mist. Grey mist and fog is common in Newfoundland but we did experience a few sunny days. The temperature was cool most of the time (between 12 to 20°C; 54 to 68°F), a sweater and toque (wool hat) is recommended in June and around the coast. The Canadian English term toque was borrowed from a Canadian French word tuque, and first documented in Canadian English in that form in 1865; by 1880 the spelling toque is documented.
Trinity is a beautiful small town with colourful buildings and a rumour of a ghost
Kamal Varma (our navigator) exploring a gift shop in Trinity.
Colourful souvenirs on a gift shop wall next to highway 10 near Tors Cove
Inside St. Paul's Anglican Church in Trinity, Newfoundland. The church is still used for public worship and is open to the public for visitation.
New-Wes Valley - The history of the fishery in the area goes back to the 18th century, and it was settled by English fishermen permanently in the early to mid-19th century.
Twilling gate is a small town on the NE coast of Newfoundland. There are numerous fishing and tour boats that will take you out to see ice-bergs (when present) or wild life. Their fish and chips at the entrance of the town is one of the best we have tasted.
Twilling gate - west side of town
Tundra-like landscape is found next to the highway in many parts of Newfoundland
Arches Provincial Park next to highway 430 going north on the west side of the island is worth a short stop.
View from inside the Arches in Newfoundland
Light-house in St. Anthony's features an excellent seafood restaurant nearby. In some places the fog was thick with visibility limited to about 15 meters (50 feet).
Large Ice berg in Saint Lunaire - Griquet near St. Anthony. We also saw several icebergs in small bays around St. Anthony and smaller ones on the East coast off highway 430 near Flowers Cove.
Iceberg near St. Anthony's Newfoundland
Smaller Iceberg south of St. Anthony's in Englee, Newfoundland
Clam shells forming a colourful "midden" on the beach in Saint Lunaire - Griquet, Newfoundland
Rock pattern on the beach in Saint Lunaire - Griquet, Newfoundland caught my eye
Ascophyllum nodosum is a large, common cold water seaweed or brown alga mixed with Fucus a genus of brown algae found in the inter tidal zones of rocky seashores. I did a research project on these algae at the Hunstman Marine Laboratory about 50 years ago
We photographed several caribou alongside the highway to Cook's Harbour in the very north part of Newfoundland
Two caribou resting in the northern most part of Newfoundland. Previously we had seen only one Caribou in Gros Morne National park.
Moose were not as common as we thought they might be but we did see one on this trip
Blow Me Down Provincial Park outside Corner Brook, Newfoundland
Next to Lark Harbour is Blow Me Down Provincial Park Newfoundland
Sunset from Lark Harbour Newfoundland
Donna watching the sunset at Lark Harbour Newfoundland
Fishing shed south of St. Anthony's in a small coastal town in Newfoundland
Typical foggy day along coast south of St. Anthony's
Collecting Plankton at Petty Harbour
I have been collecting fresh water microorganisms for photography for decades, but I have few opportunities to collect plankton from the ocean as I live in Calgary. On this trip I brought a plankton net and several small plastic vials (100 ml) that are allowed in your baggage. I took 4 vials for live specimens and 2 vials that I added a small amount of Lugol's iodine to fix and preserve some of the plankton.
Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove. This small village is a short distance from St. John's. It boasts a mini-aquarium and it is where we collected Plankton for microscopic observation.
My wife Donna and I collecting sea water from the surface of Petty Harbour using a plankton net.
Top left: Daphnia sp that is also found in fresh water Top right: Bosmina sp is also found in freshwater Bottom Left: Copepod - similar species are found in freshwater Bottom right: Salmon louse Lepeoptheirus early larval stage. All photos by light microscopy from 100X to 200X.
Top Left: Diatoms Fragilaria sp Top right: Leptodora sp also found in freshwater Bottom left: Shelled amoeba and bottom right a limnetic rotifer Kellicottias bostoniensis is also found in freshwater.
I was surprised to find many fresh water species of plankton. The most likely explanation is that there was a river pouring into the base of bay. freshwater tends to float on top of salt water and I was collecting from the surface of the water with my plankton net.
Summary
Newfoundland is a photographers paradise with opportunities to see icebergs, a wide variety of birds, moose and foxes. The coast is beautiful with many coloured buildings. There are also quite a few tours to see dolphins. whales, birds and icebergs. The country side is beautiful with a mix of tundra and boreal forest. You can expect fog and some rain on any trip. If renting a car, we recommend you do so months in advance. The roads in places have lots of potholes so drive carefully. I suspect as the province becomes more of a destination place it might begin to lose some of its charm - at least for me. Newfoundland's promotional videos on TV and Youtube are the best I have seen - watching them makes me want to go back. This was my second trip and my wife's first and even though we had lots of rain we found what we were looking for: icebergs, good food, birds and plankton. It helps to have a GPS (global positioning device) with you. It might take a little while to catch the meaning of some of their phrases like "Put da wood in da 'ole an we'll 'ave a yarn” which means "I'll put the kettle on". :-)
Note: Educators and students may use my images freely for reports and teaching. For commercial use please contact me. If you use my images online I appreciate attribution and a link back to this web page.
Acknowledgments: We thank Kamal Varma for his help with booking, car rental, navigating and his entertaining company.
References and Links
Gallery of Newfoundland images from 2013 by R. Berdan
Wherever my Camera Brings me - Newfoundland by Megan Newman Aug. 2, 2017
Trip to Newfoundland by Suzanne Roberts Sept. 27 2016
Photographing Newfoundland - Part I by R. Berdan - The Avalon Peninsula 2013
Photographing Newfoundland - Part II Bonavista Peninusula to Fogo Island by R. Berdan June 24, 2013
Newfoundland tourism, guides and maps
Newfoundland and Labrador Travel Guide by National Geographic
Elliston the root cellar captial of the world
Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve
Plankton References (for science geeks)
N.M. Korovhinsky and O. S. Boikova (2008) Study of the external morphology of Leptodora Kindtii (Focke, 1844 (Crustacea: Branchiopoda: Haplopoda), with notes on its relation to Cladocera and on sonspecificity of populations of the species over the Eurasion range. J. Natural History 42: 2825-2863. Research Gate: PDF
H. J. Dumont and W. Hollwedel (2009) Leptodora kindtii (Focke, 1844) From Bremen, Germany: Discovered, Forgotten, and Rediscovered. Crustaceana 82: issue 11, 1457-1461. Gent University. (I downloaded and printed this paper but it doesn't seem accessible anymore).
Leptodora (2023) Wikipedia
Lars A. Hamre et al., (2013) The Salmon Louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis (Copeoda: Cligidae) Life Cycle has Only Two Chalimus Stages. PDF - PLOS one 8:1-9.
R. L. Macedo et al. (2020) Small in size but rather pervasive: the spread of the North American rotifer Kellicottia bostoniensis (Rousselet, 1908) through Neotropical basins. Bioinvasion Records (2020) 9: 287-302. Research Gate - PDF
D. Hodgson et al.(1996) The paleoliminology of Lake Fidler, a meromictic lake in south-west Tasmania and the significance of recent human impact. J. of Paleoliminology 18: 313-333. Recommended by Dr. R. Walsh to explain why I found several fresh water plankton species lying over top of the sea water. Available on Springer Link web site.
Authors Biography & Contact Information
Bio: Robert Berdan is a professional nature photographer living in Calgary, AB specializing in nature, wildlife and science photography. Robert retired from Cell\Neurobiology research to pursue photography full time many years ago. Robert offers photo guiding and private instruction in all aspects of nature photography, Adobe Photoshop training, photomicrography and macro-photography. Portrait of Robert by Dr. Sharif Galal showing some examples of Robert's science research in the background.
Email at: rberdan@scienceandart.org
Web sites: www.canadiannaturephotographer.com
www.scienceandart.org
Phone: MST 9 am -7 pm (403) 247-2457.