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Photo: Centre de la nature du Mont Saint-Hilaire
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Purpose: About 80 species of birds nest and winter at the site.
Key Birds: Cerulean Warbler, Pileated Woodpecker.
Key plants: Sugar maple, basswood, red pine.
Property
Status of site: MBS
Type of site: conservation and public activities.
Initial acquisition: 1958.
Year created: 1960.
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: McGill University. Agreement: request by the landowner for the
creation of a Migratory Bird Sanctuary.
Surface area: 1,003.7 ha
Terrestrial: 972.6 ha
Aquatic: 31.1 ha
Location
Location: 45.33.00 N 73.09.00 W; near the city of Mont-Saint-Hilaire.
Municipality: Mont-Saint-Hilaire.
RCM: La Vallée-du-Richelieu.
Topographic map 1:50 000: 31H/11
Cadastral map 1:20 000: 31H/11-200-0102.
Nautical chart: none
Tourist Region: Montérégie
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Pileated woodpecker. Photo: Léo-Guy de Repentigny.
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Vegetation
More than 80% of the Mont Saint-Hilaire site consists of forest cover with tree species such as sugar maple, beeches and yellow birch. The vegetation
varies with the ecological characteristics of the immediate environment. Hilltops and steep slopes feature sugar maple, oaks and pine groves. In areas where the ground is wetter, there are mixed stands of
sugar maple, American beech, yellow birch and basswood. Along streams, in hollows and around the lakeshore, the forest is dominated by ash, red maple, yellow birch and eastern hemlock. Coniferous
species such as white pine, red pine, white cedar and the occasional white spruce may be mixed among the deciduous trees.
Mont Saint-Hilaire has an undetermined number of species of the moss
family, as well as algae, lichens, lycopods, club moss, horsetail and numerous fungi.
Birds
Some eighty bird species breed in the Sanctuary, and a number of them
spend the winter here, while others such as the Canada Goose are present only during migration.
Migration
Among the migrating species are Canada Geese, which gather in the
hundreds on the shores of Lac Hertel during the autumn.
Breeding
A number of nesting birds have been observed in the Mont Saint-Hilaire
region. Reigning over the Sanctuary are the birds of prey such as the Northern Harrier, the Sharp-shinned Hawk, the American Kestrel, the Barred Owl and
the majestic Great Horned Owl. The Belted Kingfisher, the Eastern Wood-Peewee, the Least Flycatcher, the Eastern Phoebe, the Great Crested Flycatcher, the Eastern Kingbird, various swallow species, the House Wren,
the Winter Wren, the Eastern Bluebird, the magnificent Cedar Waxwing, and various species of vireos, warblers and sparrows are other breeding birds that
invade the Mont Saint-Hilaire area in summer, and may even be seen in winter.
Virtually unknown elsewhere in Québec, the Cerulean Warbler is a visitor to the Sanctuary; it is on the species at risk list for Québec.
Amphibians and reptiles
Several species of frogs and salamanders live in the undergrowth, along the streams, around the lake and the numerous ponds of Mont Saint-Hilaire. The
common garter snake, the ringneck snake and the milk snake are among the dozen reptile species reported at the site.
Mammals
The striped skunk, the red fox, raccoons, weasels, porcupines, muskrats, red
squirrels, chipmunks and many smaller rodents live in the varied habitats of Mont Saint-Hilaire. Deer can occasionally be seen.
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