Hurricanes harm islands' bird populations

BRETON AND CHANDELEUR ISLANDS, La. (AP) -- This arc of barrier islands off the Louisiana coast was declared a bird reservation a century ago by President Theodore Roosevelt.
But devastating hurricanes over the decades -- including Ivan in mid-September -- have inundated the islands, leaving many of them underwater.
The refuge, made up of the Chandeleur and Breton islands east of New Orleans and south of Biloxi, Miss., celebrated its 100th birthday Oct. 4.
Once, there was a fishing settlement here with a school and homes. It was destroyed by a hurricane in 1915.
At one time, there were trees and even small farms.
But since the late 1800s, the islands have shrunk, losing a third of their surface.
Roosevelt declared it a reservation to halt the plunder of the islands' brown pelican populations, prized for feathers used in fancy hats.
It remains "the largest single nesting colony for brown pelicans in the country," said Byron Fortier of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The brown pelican has been on the endangered species list since the birds were wiped out in Louisiana by chemicals such as DDT in the 1960s.
The wildlife department reintroduced pelicans from Florida on the islands in the 1970s.