Île du Lys, also known as Le Lys or Ile du Lise, is one of the

Glorioso Islands The Glorieuses or Glorioso Islands (french: Îles Glorieuses or officially also ) are a group of French islands and rocks totaling . They are controlled by France as part of the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean in the French Southern and ...

, north-west of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. It is administered by France.

Description

The island has a prominent sand hill and a saltwater lagoon. Trees on the island can grow up to in height.

Important Bird Area

The island has been identified as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because it supports a very large colony of about 100,000 pairs of

sooty tern The sooty tern (''Onychoprion fuscatus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans, returning to land only to breed on islands throughout the equatorial zone. Taxonomy The sooty tern was described by Carl Linnaeu ...

s, as well as 100 pairs of

brown noddies The brown noddy or common noddy (''Anous stolidus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. The largest of the noddies, it can be told from the closely related black noddy by its larger size and plumage, which is dark brown rather than black. The b ...

. There are no resident landbirds.BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Ile du Lys, Glorieuse Archipelago. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 7 January 2012.

References

Glorioso Islands Uninhabited islands of France Islands of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands Disputed islands of Seychelles Uninhabited islands of Seychelles Uninhabited islands of Madagascar Important Bird Areas of the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean Disputed islands Seabird colonies {{France-geo-stub