The French name means "parrot island", and refers to the Atlantic puffin, a bird with a brightly colored beak.

Fauna include the Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica), razorbill (Alca torda), black guillemot (Cepphus grylle), black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) and common raven (Corvus corax).

[1] The 1888 Annual Report of the Department of Marine and Fisheries included the following information: During the past season a lighthouse was erected on the northwesternmost of the group of four islands known as the Perroquet Islands at the western extremity of the Mingan group, on the north coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and was put in operation on the 1st September.

It is elevated 87 feet above high water mark and should be visible 15 miles from all points of approach, excepting where intercepted by Mingan Island.

[4] The first keeper was Henry de Puyjalon, a French count who had moved from Brittany to Canada in 1872.

He married the daughter of Gédéon Ouimet, former Quebec premier, and became the provincial Inspector-General of hunting and fishing.

He accepted the position of lighthouse keeper in 1888 due to his love of the rugged beauty of the North Shore.

[7] The Île aux Perroquets Corporation was formed in 2010 with the goal of preserving and restoring the lighthouse.

[1] The lighthouse received heritage designation in 2014, the first in Quebec, and was transferred to the Corporation de l'Île aux Perroquets.

The site is owned by the Canadian Coast Guard and managed by the Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve.