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Photo: Pierre Brousseau
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Purpose: Large colony of Ring-billed Gulls.
Key Birds: Ring-Billed Gull, Herring Gull.
Key Plants: Lombardy poplar, black mustard
Property
Status of site: MBS
Type of site: conservation, no activities; seasonal conservation.
Initial acquisition: No record.
Year created: May 1996.
Site administered under:
- Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994 (1994, c.22; SOR/96-458 to 464 and SI/96-90 to 92, 30 October 1996).
- Canada Wildlife Act (R.S. (1985) c. W-9, sect. 1; 1994, c. 23, sect. 2(F); SOR/94-684, 7 November 1994; SI/95-42, 5 April 1995)
- Migratory Bird Sanctuary Regulations (C.R.C., c. 1036)
Landowner: Transport Canada. Agreement: inter-ministerial agreement for the
creation of a Migratory Bird Sanctuary.
Surface area: 14.8 ha
Terrestrial: 14.8 ha
Aquatic: 0 ha
Location
Location: 45.29.00 N 73.30.30 W; opposite the cities of Saint-Lambert and
Brossard
Municipality: Brossard (V)
RCM: Champlain
Topographic map 1:50 000: 31H/05
Cadastral map 1:20 000: 31H/05-200-0202
Nautical chart: 1409
Tourist Region: Montérégie
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Ring-billed Gull. Photo: Léo-Guy de Repentigny
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Located between the Victoria and Champlain bridges, Île de la Couvée, together with a few small islands also
located within the boundaries of the Sanctuary, represents an important breeding ground for the Ring-billed Gull.
Vegetation
Apart from a few trees, Île de la Couvée is virtually
denuded, except for its herbaceous vegetation composed of Brassica nigra, Agropyron repens and a few companion species. Brassica nigra, or black mustard, grows in the gulls' nesting areas.
Birds
Breeding
The Ring-billed Gull is by far the most prominent breeding bird in this Sanctuary. In 1994, more than 30 000 pairs were counted on De la Couvée
Island. Colonies of Common Terns and of Herring Gulls were also reported that year. The Spotted Sandpiper, the American Black Duck and the Killdeer have also been sighted in the Sanctuary.
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