Mohawk Island is a small island in Lake Erie

Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...

 in the province of Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It was formerly known as Gull Island. The island contains the ruins of the Gull Island Lighthouse, built in 1848 and decommissioned in 1969. It is located close to the shore of Rock Point Provincial Park

Rock Point Provincial Park

Rock Point Provincial Park is a park located on the north shore of Lake Erie near the mouth of the Grand River in the Carolinian zone of southwestern Ontario. It occupies an area of 1.87 km²....

.

Currently, no humans live on the island, and it is mostly inhabited by birds. It is an important nesting and loafing area for gull

Gull

Gulls are birds in the family Laridae. They are most closely related to the terns and only distantly related to auks, skimmers, and more distantly to the waders...

s, tern

Tern

Terns are seabirds in the family Sternidae, previously considered a subfamily of the gull family Laridae . They form a lineage with the gulls and skimmers which in turn is related to skuas and auks...

s and cormorant

Cormorant

The bird family Phalacrocoracidae is represented by some 40 species of cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed recently, and the number of genera is disputed.- Names :...

s. The Canadian government does not encourage people to visit Mohawk Island, as it has been set aside to protect nesting birds. No visits are permitted during nesting season

Nesting season

The nesting season is the time of year during which birds and some other animals, particularly some reptiles, build nests, lay eggs in them, and in most cases bring up their young. It is usually in the spring....

, which is defined as from April 1 to July 31.

External links

• Mohawk Island Environment Canada, National Wildlife Areas
• Mohawk Island Lighthouse Dunnville Online
• Gull Island Lighthouse
• http://lowbankslive.com/mohawk-island-lighthouse Lowbanks Live