Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary

The Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary is Canada's largest federally owned protected area, encompassing some 61,765 km2 (23,848 sq mi) of the Arctic Circle coastline. 6,710 km2 (2,590 sq mi) are marine, and 55,055 km2 (21,257 sq mi) are terrestrial.

Under the terms of the Ramsar Convention, it was designated as a wetland of international importance in 1982. It is the world's second-largest Ramsar Site. The majority of the park is lowlands and countless streams, ponds and shallow lakes. The land is mainly Arctic tundra and marshes.

In 1982, 450,000 geese, including the majority of the worlds Ross's Geese, nested in the sanctuary, one of the largest concentration of geese on Earth.

The park was established in 1961 under the Migratory Bird Sanctuary Regulations of the Migratory Birds Convention Act of 1917. It was named for Queen Maud of Norway.

Read more about Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary:  Threats, See Also

Famous quotes containing the words queen, maud, gulf, bird and/or sanctuary:

    In my end is my beginning.
    Mary, Queen Of Scots (1542–1587)

    The Judge looked back as he climbed the hill,
    And saw Maud Muller standing still.
    John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)

    I candidly confess that I have ever looked on Cuba as the most interesting addition which could ever be made to our system of States. The control which, with Florida, this island would give us over the Gulf of Mexico, and the countries and isthmus bordering on it, as well as all those whose waters flow into it, would fill up the measure of our political well-being.
    Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

    Some say that ever ‘gainst that season comes
    Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated,
    The bird of dawning singeth all night long:
    And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,
    The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
    No fairy tale nor witch hath power to charm,
    So hallow’d and so gracious is the time.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    He took the props down used for propping open,
    And set them up again for propping shut,
    The widespread double doors two stories high.
    The advantage-disadvantage of these doors
    Was that tramp taking sanctuary there
    Must leave them unlocked to betray his presence.
    Robert Frost (1874–1963)