_ 6 _ 
     
    
   
   
    
     BIRD CITIES 
     
    
   
   
    
     Where to go on this Summer's vacation? instead of heading for peace and 
     
     tranquility in the country, why not try for an ornithological adventure 
     
    

    
     in a “city”. Along the coasts of Atlantic Canada lie a chain of seabird 
     
     metropolises, ‘where summer turns a rocky island or cliff into a bussle 
     
    

    
     of traffic and commotion. Raucus residents of these cities establish 
     
     their own private lots with much complaint and clamour, and each comes and 
     
     goes with no regard for traffic rules or neighbours' heads. Newly hatched 
     
     youngsters, as they quickly learn not to stray over the neighbour's fence, 
     
     add to the uproar. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Such is a typical scene on breeding grOunds of Gannets, Murres, Razorbills, 
     
     Kittiwakes, and Puffins. These are the “primary seabirds” - that spend most 
     
     of their lives far offshore, and come to land only to breed on precipitous 
     
     cliffs and bare islets. On Prince Edward Island we lack this kind of 
     
    

    
     habitat, but have instead numerous small colonies of cormorants, gulls, terns, 
     
     and Black Guillemots: All inshore birds which don't readily venture out of 
     
     land's sight. 
     
    
   
   
    
     To see colonial nesters of the high seas, we betake ourselves elsewhere - 
     
     perhaps to the most famous Seabird colony of them all: Bonaventure Island 
     
     on the Gaspé coast. Here, t0ur boats cruiSe under the towering red sand- 
     
     stone ciiffs, whiie gannets wheel and turn, coming and going from their 
     
     ledges high above. A gannet can be told from a distant gull by its awkward, 
     
     stiff-winged flight, as much as by its iarger size. Black-legged Kittiwakes 
     
     (of which some 30,000 nest on Bonaventure), have a gulls' basic coloration, 
     
     but more bouyant and dainty flight. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Manoeuvering through the flocks, with their whirring buzzy flight, Common 
     
     Murres and Razorbills reach narrow ledges and crevices to feed their young 
     
     or trade incubation duties with their mates. One bird you may not see on 
     
     Bonaventure is the Common Puffin; but this small, sadeyed auk with the clown 
     
     beak still nests in good numbers on Bird Island not far from Sydney, Cape 
     
     Breton Island. Again, access is easy thrOugh regular boat tours. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Elsewhere along the Maritimes Coast, bird cities tend to be rather more like 
     
     villages. Seabirds nest in small numbers along the South shore of Nova Scotia