Rochers aux Oiseaux
View of Rochers aux Oiseaux from Brion Island, with Rocher aux Oiseaux (right) and Rocher aux Margaulx (left). | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Gulf of St. Lawrence (Atlantic Ocean) |
| Coordinates | 47°50′35″N 61°09′25″W / 47.84306°N 61.15694°W |
| Archipelago | Magdalen Islands |
| Total islands | 2 |
| Major islands | Rocher aux Oiseaux |
| Area | 0.04 km2 (0.015 sq mi) |
| Highest point | unnamed (30m above Rocher aux Oiseaux) |
| Administration | |
Canada | |
| Province | Quebec |
| Administrative region | Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine |
| Local municipality | Grosse-Île |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 0 |
| Additional information | |
| Time zone | |
| Discovered on June 25, 1534 by Europeans and several hundreds of years earlier by the Mi'kmaq It is nowadays considered as a Bird sanctuary | |
The Rochers aux Oiseaux (French pronunciation: [ʁɔʃe oz‿wazo], Bird Rocks) are an uninhabited archipelago in Quebec, Canada, located in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off the Magdalen Islands. The islands and the surrounding marine area are a migratory bird sanctuary known as the Rochers-aux-Oiseaux Bird Sanctuary, owned by the Canadian Coast Guard and home to a large colony of Northern gannets.
This four-hectare, thirty-metre-high sandstone boulder is reputed to be a veritable ship's graveyard, which encouraged the installation of a lighthouse in 1870. Many of its keepers lost their lives in accidents at work or while hunting seals. The lighthouse was finally automated in 1988, leaving the island inhabited only by seabirds.
- Bird Rock is 300 m long by 150 m wide and 30 m high, forms a kind of red sandstone citadel that is practically inaccessible but inhabited by thousands of birds and a lighthouse that is now automated.
- Margaulx rock is 1.3 km to the northwest, actually identifies three small cays.
- Bird Rocks Migratory Bird Sanctuary
- Lighthouse, keepers' house and outbuildings
- Red sandnestone citadel
- Support one of the six Northern Gannet Colonies in North America
