Strawberry Island

Strawberry Island lies in the Upper Niagara River southeast of Grand Island. This five-acre island supports a diverse collection of aquatic plants and animals and protects 400 acres of emergent wetlands and shallows from the river current. In 1996, the Niagara River Corridor was designated a globally significant Important Bird Area, serving as a resting and nesting area for songbirds and waterfowl and as an overwintering site for tens of thousands of ducks, geese, and gulls. Strawberry Island is the first natural obstacle to block the Niagara River as it leaves Lake Erie, and it shields downstream Motor Island from the powerful current. Motor Island, protected by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation as a State Wildlife Management Area, holds one of western New York's largest nesting colonies of great blue herons and great egrets, and without Strawberry Island it could eventually be lost.

Grand Island, New York · United States