Where to Enjoy Nature

Places to see birds and other wildlife

There are just a few ideas some of our members enjoy, and where some of our local Nature NL events take place. As with our tourism links, we do not endorse or maintain these areas – use at your own risk. Stay safe, wear appropriate clothing and footwear, and contact the managing authority with any questions about these spots!

We also recommend using ebird to find local hotspots!

• St. John’s: Quidi Vidi Lake, Mundy Pond, Pippy Park, Long Pond, Kent’s Pond, Kenny’s Pond, Burton’s Pond, Bowring Park, East Coast Trail, MUN Botanical Gardens nature trails, Grand Concourse trails (Rennie’s River trail, Virginia River trail, Waterford Valley trail, etc), Cape Spear
• The Goulds: Third Pond, Bidgood Park
• Conception Bay South: Chamberlains Park, Manuels River hiking trails, CBS T’Railway
• Other spots near St. John’s: Neville’s Pond in Paradise, Power’s Pond and Branscombe Pond in Mount Pearl
• Further outside St. John’s: Salmonier Nature Park, Butterpot Provincial Park, Cape St. Mary’s

Birding

• Checklist of the Birds of Newfoundland (hard copy available in our shop)
• Bird The Rock’s Newfoundland Bird Checklist
• Important Bird Areas of NL (article)
• Important Bird Areas in Canada
• Seabirds and sea ducks of Labrador poster
• Christmas Bird Counts
• nf.birds – newsgroup for discussion of birds in the province
• eBird
• How to choose birding binoculars

Botany

• Wildflower Society of NL
• MUN Botanical Garden
• Foray NL (mushrooms)
• Checklist of Newfoundland and Labrador flora
• List of all vascular plants of NL

Parks and Protected Areas:

(just a few resources, not in any particular order)

• Protected Areas in Newfoundland NL Fisheries and Land Resources
• Provincial Parks in Newfoundland and Labrador NL Tourism, Innovation, and Culture
• Marine Protection – CPAWSNL
• Eagle River Waterway (proposed 2010)
• Laurentian Channel Marine Protected Area (off the south coast of Newfoundland, protected 2019)
• Akami-Uapishkᵁ-KakKasuak-Mealy Mountains National Park Reserve (in Labrador south of Lake Melville)
• Little Grand Lake Provisional Ecological Reserve (Western Newfoundland)
• Indian Arm Brook (Notre Dame Bay, proposed 2002)

Local Issues & Organizations

Local issues

• Species at Risk (endangered and threatened) in Newfoundland and Labrador
• Lists of Species at Risk  in Newfoundland and Labrador
• Canada-NL Offshore Petroleum Board
• Projects requiring Environmental Assessments (public notices)
• Environmental Assessment (EA) in Newfoundland and Labrador
• A guide to the EA process in NL
• Environmental Impact Assessments: A Legal Toolkit for NL (pdf)
• Protected Area percentages in the province
• Report from the NL Protected Areas Forum (2015)
• Nature Canada’s Cats and Birds resources
• Doug Ballam’s conservation columns in The Independent
• Bill Montevecchi’s nature and conservation columns in The Northeast Avalon Times

Other Nature & Conservation Groups

• Nature Canada 
• Conservation groups with NL chapters: Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) – NL, CPAWS-NL
• Humber Naturalists  (aka Humber Natural History Society)
• Newfoundland and Labrador Environment Network (NLEN)

Other Nature Resources

• John Maunder’s Links – large collection of nature resources
• Status of Species in Canada wildspecies.ca
• NL Nature Atlas – collaboration between MUN Grenfell & Nature Conservancy of Canada
• Other centres with nature & environmental programming: The Fluvarium, Pippy Park, Manuels River, Corduroy Brook
• Newfoundland Nature – citizen science site for posting nature sightings
• More links at MUN Library:
  Conservation, Fisheries, Natural History, The Osprey (our Nature NL journal)
• NL Natural History and Ecology Subject Guide library.mun.ca/content.php?pid=234006

Tours, Hiking, Kayaking, Ecotourism, Photography

We put these resources here in the hope that they are positive for education/awareness. We do not endorse nor accept responsibility for their operations, and accept no payment for linking. Anyone may request a link or report a problem, and we may at our discretion remove any link or decline to link.

• Some resources:
  East Coast Trail Association and their useful hiking tips
• Wildland Tours – birds, whales and other marine mammals, polar bears, history, and nature tours
• Bird The Rock – bird and nature tours for individuals and groups
• Birding Newfoundland with Dave Brown
• Iceberg Finder
• Atlantic Whales