Bonaventure Island (officially île Bonaventure) is a 4.16 km² island 3.5 km off the Gaspé coast and 5 km north of Percé Rock.

History

Bonaventure Island was one of the first seasonal fishing ports of New France. It became a migratory bird sanctuary in 1919 due to the 1916 Migratory Bird Convention between Canada and the United States. The province of Quebec acquired it in 1971 and made it part of Parc national de l'Île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé (meaning "Bonaventure Island and Percé Rock national park") in 1985. One of the largest and most accessible bird sanctuaries in the world with more than 280,000 birds, Bonaventure Island is a major tourist destination with boat and island tours every day from May to October.

The aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure was named after the island.

Birds

Of birds 293 different species have been recorded as visiting, migrating to, or living on Bonaventure island. The most common bird found on the island is the Northern Gannet. This is the second-largest colony of gannets in the world, with over 30,000 nesting pairs. Other populous colonies include the black-legged kittiwake and the common murre. Seagulls, terns, black guillemots, auks, herring gulls, great black-backed gulls, razorbills, Leach's Storm-Petrels, great cormorants, double-crested cormorants, Atlantic puffins, boreal chickadees and Blackpoll warblers can also be observed on Bonaventure.

External link

Environment Canada's Bonaventure Page