Visits to Bonaventure Island are not possible today because the sea is too rough. We therefore content ourselves with a walk along the coast. Sightings of Northern Gannets in flight are quite numerous.

First view of the colony of Northern Gannets on Bonaventure Island from the boat which skirts the coast before disembarking tourists wishing to see the colony more closely. By luck the weather is better today.

Transporting plants to the nesting area (photo taken from the boat).

We disembark on Bonaventure Island on the west side and the reserve guards explain the conditions of the visit. You then have to follow a small path that leads to the colony of Northern Gannets on the east coast, facing the rising sun. Here is the colony, it's really impressive. It is one of the largest in the world. However, as soon as we arrived, the guards ordered us to turn around immediately, the weather is getting worse and we have to immediately join the boat for the return. We took 10 minutes to obey, and the following photos were taken during this short time.

You can see, here and there, courtship displays, beaks pointing towards the sky while shaking heads.

Another courtship display a little closer.

Northern Gannets must be accustomed to visitors and it is possible to observe them very close to the protective barriers.

Already rather large juveniles are visible among the adults.

Juveniles are dark in colour and will not have their adult plumage until about 5 years of age.

The comings and goings above the colony also allow you to take many photos in flight (and we only stayed there for 10 minutes…)