Flying in a small plane low enough to see the heads of pelicans poking from mangroves, the difference between Raccoon Island and unrestored Philo Brice is stark: One is solid land, the other like soft bread dissolving in a soup of blue.
Sliding off the side of her small boat, seabird biologist Bonnie Slaton wades through waist-high water, brown pelicans soaring overhead, until she reaches the shores of Raccoon Island.
Raccoon Island is in the Gulf of Mexico, south of Louisiana. The large brown birds who have their young on the island are shrinking in numbers, as is the size of the island.
Scientists estimate Louisiana loses one football field’s worth of ground every 60 to 90 minutes. “We’re on the front lines of climate change,” one ecologist says.
A dozen years ago, there were 15 low-lying islands with nesting colonies of Louisiana’s state bird. But today, only about six islands in southeastern Louisiana harbor brown pelican nests – the rest have disappe