Two images of the Puffins on the two small Bird Islands at Elliston, taken from the mainland.

An interesting encounter happened whilst my wife and I made our initial visit to the Puffin colony. As we approached the area, I saw a photographer with his head down, crouched low behind his his BIG lens which was aimed towards the Puffins on the island. I took a second look and thought, "this guy looks familiar." I said "Rick?" He looked up and sure enough it was Rick, a fellow photographer from Ottawa. It turned out that Rick was about to pack up and leave and that this was his last visit to the Puffin colony at Elliston. He had been in the area for several days and told me, had we come ten minutes earlier, we would have been able to photograph the Puffins right on the mainland. On the other hand, had we come five minutes later we would have missed meeting Rick. I was not even aware that Rick was in Newfoundland. The Puffins did not return to the mainland during this first visit, but they did later on two occasions.

Top image: Puffins near the edge of the closest of the two islands.


An partial overview of the two small islands.