Birds of a Feather, Saved Together – Inside the Puffin and Petrel Patrol
By Newfoundland & Labrador
When visiting Newfoundland and Labrador, you have access to the largest Atlantic Puffin colony in North America - the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve. And while puffins thrive here each year, nearby coastal communities can be a distraction for them. That's where the Puffin and Petrel Patrol comes in, turning memorable wildlife encounters into meaningful acts of conservation.
The initiative began in 2004 when Juergen and Elfie Schau, a German couple who spent their summers in Witless Bay, noticed young puffins becoming stranded along local roadsides. Determined to help, they recruited members of the community to assist in rescuing these birds, with the intention of safely returning them to the ocean. In 2011, the Newfoundland and Labrador chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS-NL) partnered with the Schaus to expand the program, adding the rescue of Leach's Storm-Petrels to the patrols, while extending them to the five neighbouring communities of Bay Bulls, Mobile, Tors Cove, Burnt Cove, and Seal Cove.
Just offshore from Bay Bulls, the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve is home to more than 250,000 nesting pairs of Atlantic Puffins. While these seabirds spend most of their lives at sea, young puffins (also known as pufflings) eventually grow to leave their burrows for the first time and begin an extraordinary journey to the North Atlantic.
Under ideal conditions, pufflings and storm-petrels navigate toward the ocean using the moon and stars as their guide. But on foggy or overcast nights, the lights of nearby communities can disorient them, drawing them inland instead of out to sea. Lost and vulnerable, they sometimes wind up in parking lots, backyards, and along roadsides along the southern shore.
This is where Puffin and Petrel Patrol steps in. Each night during fledging season, typically from late August through early November, volunteers from near and far wander coastal communities searching for stranded seabirds. Before heading out on what may be the most exciting game of ‘spotlight’ you'll ever play, CPAWS-NL staff provide a brief training session on safe handling techniques and supply the necessary permits, nets, and crates. They also have a map of any hotspot areas that should be searched on the night of the patrol. Participants will need to bring along a flashlight, safety vest, gloves, and a keen eye for spotting seabirds that have wandered off course.
Rescued birds are carefully collected and housed overnight before being released back into the ocean the following morning. Before release, researchers record important information such as weight, measurements, and banding data, helping CPAWS-NL better understand the health and survival of local seabird populations.
The data collected through the program provides valuable insight into the challenges seabirds face and helps guide future conservation efforts. Between 2011 and 2016, more than 1,500 birds were banded and released through the program. Some years bring only a handful of rescues, while others keep volunteers busy well into the night. In 2025, likely due to environmental factors, fewer than ten pufflings were found during patrols. By contrast, volunteers rescued more than 125 pufflings during the 2026 season. These year-to-year fluctuations offer important clues about life in the North Atlantic and help researchers monitor the health of seabird populations over time.
For volunteers, however, the experience is about much more than data collection.
For those lucky enough to rescue a puffling, the experience comes with an extra-special reward. Along with helping a stranded bird continue its journey to sea, volunteers have the honour of giving the little one a name, which becomes part of its rescue record. It's a small but meaningful connection that many participants remember long after they return home.
Visitors can even witness the final chapter of the rescue story. Each morning during rescue season, local boat tour operators such as Molly Bawn, Gatherall's, and O'Brien's depart from Bay Bulls and travel to the waters surrounding the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, where a CPAWS-NL representative releases the seabirds rescued during the previous night's patrols. These releases provide visitors with a rare opportunity to see conservation in action, as puffins, shearwaters, and petrels are carefully returned to the wild. Watching a puffling spread its wings and disappear into the Atlantic offers a memorable reminder of the role community-led conservation plays in protecting Newfoundland and Labrador's seabirds and ensuring future generations can continue to experience these remarkable species in the wild.
Years after a rescued puffling disappears beyond the horizon, it's likely to return to the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve where its journey began. There, it will raise chicks of its own and, one August evening, send them out beneath the same night sky toward the Atlantic. Thanks to the dedication of conservation officers and volunteers alike, many young seabirds get a second chance to complete that journey; helping to ensure that Newfoundland and Labrador's puffin colonies continue to thrive for generations to come.
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Every rescued seabird has a story, and so does every volunteer, visitor, and community member who helps along the way. Want to share your Puffin and Petrel Patrol experience with us? Use #ExploreNL and tag @NewfoundlandLabrador. Learn more about joining a patrol or witnessing a release at cpawsnl.org.
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