Located at the southwest tip of the Avalon Peninsula the reserve covers one of the most southerly expanses of subarctic tundra.

Bird rock, an isolated sea stack 45 feet lover than the surrounding 400 foot high cliffs and only several feet offshore, is the standout attraction of the reserve. It acts as a high-rise apartment building for thousands of nesting birds. The nesting area stretches for more than 2.5 miles along the coast, but the birds nest on Bird Rock in such profusion that they swirl past the cliff face like a blizzard of snow.

Aside from the throngs of nesting birds, the reserve seems desolate of wildlife, but the red fox, ermine, masked shrew, meadow vole, willow ptarmigan, and small bands of caribou roam the barrens. A half-mile trail from the interpretive centre leads over rough terrain to the cliff side with views of Bird Rock.