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'Southern James Bay' is a Canadian coastal wetland complex in northeastern Ontario bordering James Bay and Quebec. It was designated as a wetland of international importance via the Ramsar Convention on May 27, 1987. The shallow waters of the James Bay region represent an important late autumn staging area for migratory, Arctic-breeding waterbirds. ^[1]
Two migratory bird sanctuaries are located in the complex: the 14.6 km² ''Moose River Bird Sanctuary'' is at the mouth of the Moose River, and the larger 238.3 km² ''Hannah Bay Bird Sanctuary'' on the eastern coast of Hannah Bay.^[2] As many as 75,000 geese of various species may simultaneously use the staging area in autumn, and large populations of ducks are also easily observed. "Substantial numbers of diving sea ducks occur offshore."¹
Southern James Bay lies within the flat sedimentary basin of the Hudson Bay lowland, and its coast is "characterised by a sequence of mudflats, intertidal marshes and supertidal meadow-marshes, which grade through a willow-alder shrub area into a drier forest interspersed with fens and bogs".² Gradually rising inland from sea level, it attains elevations of no more than 50 m.

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