Newfoundland long lens, etc.

We are going to Newfoundland in July, want to capture wildlife. Especially Puffins and Gannets. Also whales. I have smaller zoom lenses to bring, like the 70-200, 24-70 and 14-34. My main question is would you bring the 500 4.0 or 300 2.8 to capture the puffins and gannets from land? We will also take several sea trips for these birds and whales and I will bring the shorter zooms for these trips. I welcome any lens thoughts as well as specific locations . I have been reading ROBERT Berdan's site. We already have St Mary's , Elliston, etc for our 2 week trip.

I went there this past summer and I would say that you should 100% bring your 500. I had a 1D4 with a 100-400, and left my 500 at home. It was a mistake. Gannets in flight are easy with any lens, but for perched photos you'll want the most reach you can get.

Have not been to newfoundland for 4 years now. but at Cape St mary's for gannets don't think things have changed much. agree with connor a 500 would be
great for sitting birds. I only had a 400/2.8 at that time, but there were birds close enough at times for that lens, as for birds on the move was using my old
80-400 and it was plenty to capture them flying. great place to capture birds in flight as the birds catch the wind off the cliffs and just hang in the air at times.
enjoy !!

I spent a few months in NF. Definitely take the 500 and maybe an extender. Puffins are pretty small birds.

Roberta Olenick
www.neverspook.com

I spent three weeks there in August. Wildlife for photography purposes is not  particularly abundant. Cape St Mary is the first, primarily for nesting and flying (but not diving and feeding). A 500 with or without a TC would be very useful here and I suspect you would be a bit unhappy if you did not have it available. Keep in mind that that area is often fogged in and you might need more than one visit. We did find diving gannets off the west coast  by Cape St George but we were just lucky to happen on them. The puffins at Elliston and Bona Vista are not a sure thing. I am told that they sometimes fly in from the island and land near you but if there are visitors coming in and out while you are there your shots will have to reach the island and those birds flying around it. Beyond those locations we found scattered targets: some eiders, occasional wading birds, terns, seabirds, but rather few and far between. 
As for whales, we had an excellent experience with Northland Discovery tours in St Anthony on the top of the northwest peninsula. This was done from a mid-size boat, not from zodiacs, but we had numerous humpbacks as well as a pod of orcas up close.
Good luck!

Any reason to take a macro? Flowers? Any interesting insects?

Also is the 14-24 or 16-35 with neutral density filters more useful for this trip?