Long Live the Queen

In 1971, eight pelican chicks hatched on Queen Bess Island in Barataria Bay, the first pelicans born in “The Pelican State” in a decade and the first step in the remarkable conservation success story of Louisiana’s Brown Pelican.  Approximately fifty years later, over 8,000 pelicans now call the island home, despite the constant threat of coastal erosion. 

A Second Chance

Today, our state bird, a resident of coastal estuaries and marshes, is easily seen near Louisiana’s Gulf waters, perching on piers, docks, and rocks near the coastline. One can observe these majestic birds, with wingspans of up to seven and a half feet, flying singularly, or gracefully in V formations, overhead. Dining exclusively on fish, the Brown Pelican can spot a future meal from heights of up to sixty feet. Wings folded back, bill first, the pelican dives kamikaze-like into the water. They pop right back up to the surface, drain the water from their bill and swallow their prey. 

Just over sixty years ago, an insecticide called dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) had steadily decreased the pelican populations in the state until, in 1961, the birds quit nesting altogether. Two years later, Louisiana’s own state bird—a long-held symbol of our region—was extirpated from the state entirely. 

Used to kill mosquitoes starting in the late 1940s, DDT had made its way into the food chain, almost wiping out many fish-eating bird species such as the bald eagle, osprey, and the Brown Pelican. DDT caused the birds’ eggshells to become so thin that they were crushed when parents attempted incubation. By 1970, Brown Pelicans were listed nationally as an endangered species, and the Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT from use in the U.S two years later.

[Read this: Why the Pelican?—The Catholic origins of the imagery on Louisiana's official seal]

In an effort to bring the beloved coastal bird back to Louisiana, from 1968-1976, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) captured approximately 705 pelican chicks from Florida’s Atlantic Coast and released them at Cameron Parish’s Rockefeller Refuge and at Queen Bess Island. Those first eleven nests represented the success of the state bird’s re-colonization; the Brown Pelican was removed from the U.S. Endangered Species List in 2009, and today Louisiana is home to over 40,000 of them.  

A Disappearing Home

Every spring, pelicans return to the place where they were born to build their nest. Today, the descendants of those transplanted Florida chicks continue to return to Queen Bess Island, the third-largest Brown Pelican nesting colony in Louisiana, which hosts about fifteen to twenty percent of the state’s annual Brown Pelican nests. Other colonial wading birds—such as egrets, herons, ibis, spoonbills, gulls, and terms—also use Queen Bess Island as a nesting site. 

So ingrained is the instinct to return home for nesting that pelicans will do so even when the site is no longer a suitable nesting area. This was the case at Queen Bess in 2010, when the habitat became slick with oil after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Today, they still come, despite the fact that the island—which provided thirty-six acres of habitat in the 1960s—has been reduced by subsidence and erosion to only a fragmented five acres. 

Rebuilding Queen Bess 

Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries (LDWF) keeps tabs on the state bird, and recommended restoration of the island to sustain the pelican’s nesting habitat. Collaborating with Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) and the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group (LA TIG), a project funded with nearly $10 million in oil spill reparations is in the works to rebuild nesting grounds on Queen Bess Island. Construction began in September of 2019, and completion is slated for February 2020—just in time for nesting season.

“When we think about coastal restoration, we often picture rebuilding the coast itself, but the wildlife that inhabit our coast are another major part of the equation,” said Chip Kline, CPRA Chairman and Director of Coastal Activities for the State of Louisiana. “The restoration of Queen Bess gave us the unique opportunity to partner with LDWF and combine our expertise in engineering, designing, and constructing coastal restoration projects with their experience in establishing successful wildlife habitats. This is an exciting step in securing the future of our state bird, the Brown Pelican, and so many other species that rely on this critical habitat.”

[Read this: A Wonderful Bird is the Pelican]

In addition to constructing an additional thirty acres of pelican habitat, the project will attempt to raise Queen Bess’s elevation by enhancing the rock ring around the island, which will also serve to keep sand contained. It will use sand from the Mississippi River to build the island up to four feet above sea level on the South side, sloping down to 1.5 feet on the Northeastern side. Newly planted black mangroves and other native plants along the northern parts of the island will help this sand to remain in place, while also creating a nesting habitat for Brown Pelicans, egrets, ibis, and other birds. Additionally, twenty-one crushed limestone “bird ramps” will help young flightless birds walk over the rocks surrounding the island to access water. To accommodate terns and gulls which need bare ground to nest, builders will engineer geotextile fabric under limestone to create seven acres of low-maintenance nesting habitat.

Along the southwest perimeter of the island, new breakwaters will provide calm water for birds, while a smaller breakwater installed on the lowest part of the island will help slow erosion and let small fish in and out.

“Now that we are approaching the ten-year anniversary of the BP oil spill, it is very satisfying to see restoration projects being created that will directly benefit the habitats and species that were impacted by it,” said LDWF Coastal Resource Scientist Manager Todd Baker. “Brown Pelicans are a major bioindicator of the health of our coastal marshes. As coastal erosion continues to decimate our sensitive wetlands, colonies continue to decrease across the state. Restoring habitat for these birds is crucial to maintaining healthy coastal wetlands.”

In November, Queen Bess Island was named an official state wildlife refuge by Gov. John Bel Edwards. Designating this island as a refuge will offer additional regulatory protection for the birds by being able to prevent trespassing on the island during the sensitive nesting season. This designation also recognizes the role Queen Bess has played in bringing back the Brown Pelican to Louisiana, as well as the importance of protecting and investing in our coast. 

If you’ve got a boat, you can see the island yourself three miles north of Barataria Pass off the eastern end of Grand Isle. Calmwater Charters also offers guided tours at calmwatercharters.net.