| IBA |
Tian Bay/Port Louis Area
Haida Gwaii, British Columbia |
| Site Summary |
| BC011 |
Latitude
Longitude |
53.726° N
133.034° W |
Elevation
Size |
0 m
74.80 km² |
Habitats:
coniferous forest (temperate), coastal cliffs/rocky shores (marine)
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Land Use:
Not Utilized (Natural Area)
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Potential or ongoing Threats:
Introduced species, Oil slicks
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| IBA Criteria: Nationally Significant: Congregatory Species |
| Conservation status: |
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Site Description
Situated on the west coast of Graham Island between Frederick and Hippa islands, two groups of islets lie within the waters encompassed by Tian Bay, Otard Bay, and Port Louis. Tian, Pip and 'Kiokathli' islets are clusters of small rocky islets vegetated with grasses and forbs. Sparse clumps of Sitka Spruce grow on the crowns of the larger of these islets. Solide and Brock are larger islands with a mature spruce forest, and grass and forbs along the shoreline.
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Birds
Surveys completed in the late 1980's showed that collectively, these islets support 24 pairs of Black Oystercatchers (2.4% of the estimated national population) and 159 Pigeon Guillemots (1.5% of the estimated national population). Numbers of nesting Glaucous-winged Gulls recorded during some of the surveys approach, or are above, the 1% threshold for national significance (e.g., 289 pairs in 1986, 228 pairs in 1988). Although the most recent survey in 1988 recorded no nesting Pelagic Cormorants, a survey two years previously recorded 98 pairs of breeding birds on Tian Islets. This would have established it as a nationally significant site for this species. [Pelagic Cormorants may not always use the same site each year for nesting.] Small numbers of Cassin's Auklets, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels, and Leach's Storm-Petrels nest on some of the islets. Although they presently do not support any nesting seabirds, several other islands in this area (Queen, Ogilvie and McKenzie) historically supported breeding colonies of storm-petrels. The marine waters of this area (out to a minimum distance of 5 km, and extending from Tian Head in the north to Louis Pt. to the south, including Port Louis, Otard Bay and Tian Bay) are an important feeding area for the nationally threatened Marbled Murrelet. Concentrations of feeding birds have been reported in Tian Bay.
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IBA Criteria |
| Species↓ T | A | I |
Links |
Date |
Season |
Number |
G |
C |
N |
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Note: species shown in bold indicate that the maximum number exceeds at least one of the IBA thresholds (sub-regional, regional or global). The site may still not qualify for that level of IBA if the maximum number reflects an exceptional or historical occurrence.
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Conservation Issues
Although these Islands are all Provincial Crown land, they have no protective status. The primary threats to this site, and the seabirds that nest there, are potential oil spills, and the spread of introduced predators (raccoons) from the adjacent shoreline of Graham Island.
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