Celebrating the Magpie River (Mutehekau Shipu) on World Rivers Day

# Why the Magpie River matters

The Magpie River, traditionally Mutehekau Shipu, is one of Quebec's major wild rivers. It stretches roughly 280 km (174 miles) through northern Quebec and lies on the Nitassinan—the ancestral territory—of the Innu communities of Ekuanitshit and Uashat mak Mani-utenam. It is recognized internationally as one of the world's top whitewater rivers for recreation and has a distinctive legal status as the first river in Canada recognized as a legal entity.

# Birds, habitat, and the watershed

The river and its watershed host important habitat for migratory birds and other wildlife. Species recorded in the region include Common Merganser and Rusty Blackbird. Those birds use the river corridor during migration and for breeding or stopover habitat, making the health of the Magpie River directly relevant to their life cycles.

# Monitoring work: ARUs on the Magpie and Moisie

Audubon and SNAP Quebec are working with the Innu of Ekuanitshit and Uashat mak Mani-utenam to place autonomous recording units (ARUs) along the shores of the Magpie and Moisie rivers. ARUs are devices that turn on and record birdsong during selected hours of the day, focused on migration seasons. The recordings are later analyzed to determine which bird species are present at each site.

This approach produces an audio record of bird presence that can detect species that may be hard to see in the field, capture temporal patterns across migration windows, and provide repeated measures that support trend assessment over time.

# How recordings inform protection

# Collaboration with Innu communities

The project explicitly involves the Innu communities of Ekuanitshit and Uashat mak Mani-utenam. The river flows through their Nitassinan, and their participation in monitoring and conservation decisions anchors the work to local stewardship and cultural context.

# Where this sits in the broader conversation

The Magpie's legal recognition and recreational value attract attention, but the monitoring project focuses on concrete ecological data—who is using the river and when. That data supports watershed protection and complements other conservation tools and advocacy, including Audubon's broader climate and birds initiative, which invites public engagement through a Birds Tell Us to Act on Climate pledge.

# How readers can follow or support the work

The story highlights a short video about the Magpie River and related monitoring work. Audubon encourages readers to visit associated pages about birds and climate action, and to sign the Birds Tell Us to Act on Climate pledge if they wish to add their voice to calls for science-based climate solutions.

# Final point

The Magpie River case links field monitoring, Indigenous stewardship, and legal and recreational recognition of a wild river. The ARU project aims to produce practical bird-occurrence data that supports decisions about protecting riverine habitats in northern Quebec.