Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Near my home on the Northumberland Strait is Baie Verte, a bay named for the luxuriant salt marshes that
line its shores. Eelgrass also grows in abundance in its shallow waters, further boosting the primary productiv-
ity, which in turn nourishes rich beds of invertebrates. Legions of clam-diggers spread out on the mudflats to
search for quahogs and razor clams, and wildlife also congregate to reap the marine harvest. From my vantage
point at the Tidnish Dock, on any given night in late summer I can watch as two dozen great blue herons string
out along the water line to pluck fish from the shallows. Near the shore, greater yellowlegs and willets probe
the mudflats for invertebrates as a small flock of sandpipers wheels by. Common terns from a nearby colony
enliven the air with their constant chatter as they dive for silvery prizes. Gray and harbor seals loaf on the
rocky reefs, while a dark flock of double-crested cormorants spread their wings to dry them, creating eerie sil-
houettes.
The shallow southern gulf supports large numbers of fish-eating birds like these cormorants.
Scenes such as this confirm the observation made by Nicolas Denys in 1671, when he called the southern
gulf “a land of greatest abundance” in his Description and Natural History of the Coasts of North America.
The coast throughout the region is distinguished by barrier islands, large beaches, dunes, estuaries, salt
marshes, and lagoons—a mosaic of diverse and productive habitats that support large nesting colonies of wa-
terbirds, which feed on the small fishes found in the nearshore areas. The shallow waters that surround Prince
Edward Island, for example, support two major populations of fish-eating birds: a continentally significant
population of breeding great blue herons as well as the largest colony of double-crested cormorants in eastern
