Katherine Bickford

Located in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, southeast of the city of Percé in Gaspésie, the Bonaventure Island and Percé Rock Migratory Bird Sanctuary was established in 1919 to protect an essential nesting site for seabirds, in particular the northern gannet.

In the early 1930s, the northern gannet colony in this sanctuary was estimated to comprise 8,000 birds; however, by 2004, this number had increased to more than 60,000 pairs in 2009. The population has remained between 48,000 and 58,000 since, making it by far the most noticeable of the species found on Bonaventure Island.

While the northern gannet may be the most numerous species in this sanctuary, both the common murre and black-legged kittiwake also have imposing colonies on the island. The number of common murres has grown significantly in the sanctuary, estimated under 10,000 birds in the late 1960s to an estimated 56,000 birds in 1989 and 2002. In contrast, the black-legged kittiwake experienced a decline in number from its peak of 47,000 birds in the 1980s to less than 20,000 individuals during the 2008 and 2013 surveys.

Some species, such as the herring gull, great black-backed gull, black guillemot and razorbill, are seen equally as often on both Bonaventure Island and Percé Rock, while other species, namely the great cormorant and double-crested cormorant (estimated at 488 birds in 2002), seem to prefer nesting on Percé Rock. The Atlantic puffin, on the other hand, has been observed on Bonaventure Island, but does not appear to frequent Percé Rock. Songbirds (passerines) have also been spotted on Bonaventure Island, including the boreal chickadee and blackpoll warbler.

The two sections of land covered by this sanctuary differ significantly. Bonaventure Island is mostly forested with scatterings of herbaceous meadows. Its cliffs, which rise up to 75 metres in height on the northeastern part of the island, are composed of red sandstone interspersed with beds of coarse, fragmented limestone (breccia) and are decorated with a diverse range of plant life. Percé Rock, by contrast, is connected to the mainland by a sandbar that is exposed at low tide and the main features of this landmass are exposed rock and herbaceous meadows.

Anse à Butler