Bonaventure Island

Île Bonaventure, part of the Bonaventure Island and Percé Rock Migratory Bird Sanctuary since 1919, is located approximately 2km off the coast of Percé, Québec, in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Most of the island is densely forested, and the northern and eastern sides have tall cliffs which host over 200 000 seabirds. The island covers 5.8 km² and belongs to the Île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé Provincial Park, established in 1985. The Park is open daily to tourists from June – October every year where visitors can experience the largest North American colony of Northern gannets. Approximately 48 000 breeding gannet pairs nest on the island and in the cliffs, along with other populations of Common guillemot (~37900 pairs), Black-legged kittiwake (~8500 pairs), Razorbill (~1000 pairs), Black guillemot (~100 pairs) Herring gull (~12 pairs), Great black-backed gull (~9 pairs), and Double-crested cormorant (~20 pairs).

Environment and Climate Change Canada collects eggs from the Northern gannet colony every five years since 1969 to monitor contaminant concentrations and conducts a population census since 1979. Since the 2000s, many research projects have been developed by several groups. In the last decade, annual monitoring of breeding success and diet was started by the University of Québec in Rimouski. Bonaventure Island became a SEATRACK location in 2023 with GLS and GPS loggers being deployed on Northern gannets.