Last year’s bird flu epidemic was devastating for gannets in the Magdalen Islands, according to the latest Canadian Wildlife Service data obtained by the QMI agency.
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The census carried out by the organization in July 2022 using aerial photographs shows that the gannet colony in Rocher aux Oiseaux off the islands has declined by 58%.
“Our previous monitoring of the gannet population dates back to 2020,” explains Jean-François Rail, biologist in charge of monitoring populations of seabirds nesting in Quebec. “And the impact of bird flu is unprecedented for the Rocher aux Oiseaux colony. We had never seen such a drop!
PROVIDED BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS RAIL
Canadian Wildlife Service biologist Jean-François Rail monitors the development of the gannet population in the Magdalen Islands.
The census refers to the number of breeding pairs at the peak of the breeding season, which extends from May to October. This confirms images circulating in the media last year showing thousands of dead birds on the shores of the Magdalen Islands.
PROVIDED BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS RAIL
In comparison, the gannet population on Bonaventure Island in the Gaspé declined by just 13% in 2022 compared to 2020.
The biologist says he has no explanation for understanding such a gulf between the colonies of these two regions.
“One can draw a parallel with the common eider colonies in the estuary, where some islands were affected with hundreds of carcasses of dead birds and others were unaffected at all. So why one place more than the other? It’s really strange,” said Mr. Rail.
The latter is also surprised that the guillemots, which nest in large numbers in Rocher aux Oiseaux, also escaped the H5N1 virus.
“The guillemots come in the thousands and sometimes in much greater densities than the gannets, but we can’t see any mortality from the photos. Why did it only affect gannets and not guillemots? I don’t know. That’s another mystery!”
New wave detected
While he describes the impact of last year’s deaths from the H5N1 virus as significant, the biologist fears a new wave of bird flu in the coming months.
“There are signs of bird flu in South America, where our Quebec migratory birds have infested their wintering grounds. But in terms of the extent to which it will last, we really don’t know. If there were any additional impact on population mortality next summer, it would certainly be of great concern.
The booby population in Quebec was already declining before last year’s bird flu outbreak. It peaked at nearly 90,000 pairs in 2009, but that number dropped to below 75,000 the following year, Jean-François Rail said.
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