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The City of Pointe-Claire has been conducting for some weeks now an inventory of the brown snakes and birds in Terra-Cotta Natural Park, a habitat for many species of birds and mammals, reptiles, trees and plants.
Brown snake
Asphalt shingles have been installed in the wildlands of the park. They will be used as shelters by the snakes, which will help identify the sectors most used by the brown snake, locate natural hibernacula and confirm whether or not the artificial hibernaculum installed in the park is used.
The brown snake grows up to 35 cm long. It has two rows of brown spots along its back, with dark areas under its eyes. It is one of the eight species of snakes found in Québec. It is also one of the six snake species designated as potentially threatened or vulnerable.
Urban sprawl, which results in the loss, modification, and fragmentation of their habitat, and road traffic pose the biggest threats to this species. The artificial hibernaculum, which is installed in Terra-Cotta Natural Park, is part of the initiatives designed to help preserve this species, which does not pose any danger to humans and plays an important role in balancing its environment.
Birds
All birds that nest in Terra-Cotta Natural Park were sought out using listening stations and an active visual search at four precise times. This process helps to identify the migrant and resident species in Terra-Cotta Natural Park and the impact of tree felling operations on the bird populations that are being carried out there. Inventories were conducted in 2019 and 2021.
