Birds

The Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve provides a resting, foraging and nesting area to more than 200 residents and migratory bird species. Sheltered from most terrestrial predators, this bird fauna inhabits all island ecosystems, from the boreal forest cover to the peatbog low vegetation and the dry land of the barrens. However, it is in the coastal zone and along the shore of the islands and islets that the concentration of birds is the most important. The park reserve includes two migratory bird sanctuaries on its territory, Watshishou (107 km²) and Betchouane (5 km²).

These two refuges are exceptional protected areas for the nesting of several species of migratory birds. The Watshishou Bird Sanctuary is comprised of hundreds of islands, islets and rock faces that offer a carpet of mosses and lichen to breeding pairs of Common eiders and Double-crested cormorants, as well as to several species of seagulls, terns, ducks, scoters and loons. Species at risk, such as the Harlequin duck, also frequent this sanctuary. The Betchouane Bird Sanctuary, on the other hand, offers rocky outcrops as well as herbaceous and shrubby islands and islets, to the colonies of Common eiders, Atlantic puffins and Razorbills. Black-legged kittiwakes and several species of seagulls also visit this protected environment, which is abundant in food.