This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the places to go birding in the Montreal area - for that we would recommend Pierre Bannon's excellent, if now slightly out of date, guide book - but this page will provide you with a fairly detailed and current look at a selection of sites we really recommend you to look at. Over time the list will expand and grow and, being web-based, we can keep it up to date more easily than a printed book..

Rread the descriptions and follow the links below - clicking on the Chickadee Links where available, will take you to a fuller description of each site with photographs and maps.

If you are comfortable in French, another very good selection of sites can be found on the Oiseaux-QC website at http://www.oiseauxqc.org/sites.jsp

The St-Lazare Sandpits - a complex of sandpits, pine woodland, pools, shrubs and boggy areas west of Montreal that is a magnet for birds and very easily accessible - you can even check out the birds from your car. Something like 150 species should be seen here in the course of a year, including quite a few rarities.

The Morgan Arboretum - - the largest arboretum in Canada lies on the west island of Montreal. It is owned by McGill University and parts of iut are off-linits as they are used for research projects but the bulk of it is open to visitors. This is marvellous birding site with a rich avifauna - in spring and fall it lies right under one of the main migratory hawk flyways in the region. The arboretum has it's own website at www.morganarboretum.org

Lac St-François (Dundee) - a large wetland reserve of international importance (RAMSAR site) with a wealth of rare and unusual species, beautiful flowers and opportunities to canoe amongst the reed beds. Lies about an hour from Montreal on the south of the river against the US border. Not to be missed on any account.

Parc du Moulin, Ile Perrot - at the tip of Ile Perrot just to the west of Montreal island is a "Historic Park" containing a 16th century fortified windmill (fur smuggling days) and bays that attarct migratory waterfowl.

Ile Bizard - one of Montreal's "nature parks". A mixed area of woodland and marsh with a fabulous wealth of birdlife throughout the year. One of the regions "hot spots"

"The Mountain" - Parc de Mont Royal and the Cemetery - right in the middle of the city lies the parkland known as "the Mountain" which attracts many species of migratory birds. Worth a visit for its location alone but the birds are something special in spring and autumn.

Angell Woods - a not very widely known (and vulnerable to the developers - help save it) piece of woodland between Autoroutes 20 and 40 in Beaconsfield. Lots of birds and flowers and trees - a little gem.They have their own website or you can find out more from us using the link below :

Mont St-Hilaire - to the south east of Montreal, this is the largest of the hills that rise from the St.Lawrence plain. Covered in forest untouched since the first settlers came here this old volcanic plug is a magnet for birds and has a fabulous wealth of mammal and plant life too. Cliffs hold Peregrines and Gyrfalcon.

Oka Provincial Park - a provincial park west of Montreal, Oka has both riverside marshes and forested mountains in which to go birding. A beautiful setting.

Cooper Marsh - Situated in the Lake St. Francis area of the St. Lawrence River, Cooper Marsh Conservation Area is an extensive area of marshland, treed swamp, upland meadows, forested areas, wildflower fields, isolated ponds, meandering streams and agricultural land seeded with lure crops for waterfowl. DUC are involved in its management

Parc du Mont Tremblant - This is the biggest of the Quebec provincial parks situated north on Autoroute 15 about an hour and half from Montreal. The area is vast and the birding outstanding with a huge range of boreal species not easily found elsewhere in the region - Black-backed Woodpecker, Boreal Chickadee, Gray Jay, Olive-sided, Yellow-bellied, and Alder Flycatchers, Philadelphia Vireo, Wilsons and Palm Warblers, Fox and Lincoln's Sparrows, White-winged Crossbill, Pine Siskin and Evening Grosbeak

The Alfred Sewage Lagoons - you will have to drive into Ontario for this gem, but there is simply is nowhere else that you are likley to find a richer collection of peeps and their friends than at the famous sewage lagoons just suth of the not-very attractive town of Alfred a few miles west of Hawkesbury.

St-Louis-de-Gonzague - This small bay on the north side of the Beauharnois Canal is most important in October when migrating waterfowl etc. are heading south. Vast numbers of geese, especially Snow Geese, and many species of duck will congregate here and are very easily viewed from the waterside paths. Relative rarities amongst the duck species are seen most years. Best visited at the end of the day when the geese and ducks settle on the water for the night.

Lachine Rapids and Ile-aux-Hérons - Just upriver from the centre of Montréal lies one of the biggest heronries in the area. Also home to many species of ducks, some resident and some just passing through on migration north or south depending on the season.

St-Catherine Locks and the Seaway - This stretch of water just off the south shore pretty well directly across river form the city centre is ice-free all year and especially worth visiting in the winter when resident waterfowl are attracted here to take advantage of the shelter and food opportunities that are provided. In the fall, the islands and banks that demarcate the seaway are often good places to seek out small songbirds, warblers etc that will pause here for a rest and refuelling period on their way south as winter approaches.

Jardins Botaniques (Montreal) - A wide variety of trees and shrubs and the relative peace of this extensive site mean that many bird species can be seen here during the seasons while many are especially evident in the winter due to the provision of well-stocked feeding stations throughout the site.

Beauharnois area - This is not a romantic birding spot by any means as it lies in front of an enormous hydro-power generator across the river, but clearly this matters not a jot to the thousands and thousands of gulls that settle here during the autumn migratory period. Just turn your back on the monstrous building and power lines and look at the water - at least in this direction the view is quite attractive with the north shore of Ile Perrot directly across from you and distantly down the river, the island of Montreal and Lac St-Louis.

Baie-du-Febvre - THE place to be to see Snow Geese (the town even has its own Snow Goose promoting website) during migration, and especially so in the spring as they head north.

Ste-Martine - This, for some not always obvious reason, is probably the best site in the Montreal area to see a wide variety of shorebirds each year with the most interesting activity starting around mid-summer. A visit here is easily fitted into a route also taking in the Beauharnois hydro-station and the marsh at St-Timothée, making for a very bird-filled day.

Hungry Bay - Situated on the southern shore of Lac St-Francois where the Beauharnois Canal opens at its western end this is perhaps one of the first areas of open water to appear in the ice each spring. Very much worth checking out around mid to late March for the first signs of returning Canada and Snow Geese and some very interesting ducks, many of which will pause here to be admired.