I am Rochelle Streker and I am a Master's student studying the effects of nesting microclimate and diet on the reproductive success of Brown Pelicans in Mobile, Alabama. My main study site is on Gaillard Island, a large dredge-spill island in the middle of Mobile Bay, that was built in 1982 by the Army Corps of Engineers. The dredge from the Theodore Industrial Canal is pumped onto the island every 2 years when the birds are not nesting, leaving behind a soft sand reinforced with rocks to stop the island from washing away. The Brown Pelicans nest on the ground and in the shrubs that grow on the island, sharing the island with Laughing Gulls, Royal terns, Least terns, and multiple species of herons.
Rochelle