Ship Island Birds Flying High

You'd be hard pressed to find an oily bird in this bunch near the nesting area. Officials with the National Park Service have been taking weekly bird surveys here. Despite the oil threat this year's nesting season isn't too shabby.

“We haven't seen the severe impact we were afraid we'd see on this colony,” says National Park Service Biological Science Technician Wendy Crouse. “We've had an average number this year and the numbers we've seen on fledglings have been on average.”

Most of the birds I saw were black skimmers--we saw a few terns too. Apart from one bird Wendy spotted with a splotch of oil everyone looks clean. Officials with the National Park Service say they saw the oil impact early on.

“We have had oiled birds, we have had oiled birds found dead and removed and we have had oiled chicks that were taken to rehab centers,” says Crouse. The deepwater horizon sank at the start of nesting season. Officials worried many birds would be wiped out

“We were concerned the adults would get oil on their feathers and transfer that oil to the eggs and kill the eggs essentially,” says Crouse. It's hard to know what a healthy bird population on Ship Island means. Crouse can't say whether it implies the oil impact here has been light or if the birds are getting smarter staying away from crude.