June 1, 2020
Last week, the Montreal Port Authority's (MPA) environment team had a nice surprise on a field trip to the Contrecoeur port site. Just like last year, an artificial nesting box installed as part of a project to protect the Bank Swallows’ habitat was aflutter with little tenants, good news for this species whose nesting sites are protected.
The MPA is engaged in several projects to protect their habitat. In addition to installing three artificial concrete and sand nesting boxes in Contrecœur in 2019, together with Ecogénie and the Grand Council of the Waban-Aki Nation, the MPA plans to install three more in 2020. When completed, these nesting boxes could potentially make 1,200 burrows available for nesting. The biologists involved in the project were very impressed by how quickly the swallows took over the nesting boxes made available to them in 2019. Let’s hope for the same experience in 2020!
You may recall that a Shore Swallow nesting box was also installed at Section 110 in Montreal's East End, in collaboration with the non-profit Jacques-Cartier ZIP (priority intervention zone) Committee as part of the St. Lawrence Action Fund (SLAF), to which the MPA makes a financial contribution.
Also through the SLAF and with the participation of the Jacques-Cartier ZIP Committee, four Purple Martin nesting boxes will be installed in 2020 on the Tailhandier tidal flats in the Boucherville Islands.
300 burrows are available for nesting in Contrecoeur
