Rare birds thrive when people leave Georgia's coast

PELICAN SPIT, Ga. - When you keep humans away, the rare birds will play.<br> <br> Several rare bird species are slowly returning to five small barrier islands along the Georgia coast four years after the state limited human activity there.<br> <br> Since humans stayed away, the birds have resumed nesting and they show signs of rebounding, said Brad Winn, wildlife biologist for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.<br> <br> &#34;Least terns are nesting this year on Pelican Spit for the first year in a long time ... and it&#39;s really exciting to see the black skimmers, because they haven&#39;t been nesting here fro 20 years,&#34; Winn said.<br> <br> Historically, Pelican Spit and its four nearby islands have been a popular site for kayakers, anglers and recreational boaters.<br> <br> But it&#39;s also an especially important nesting site because it has no predators such as raccoons that would raid the nests, Winn said.<br> <br> The restrictions in place since 1998 allow the island to remain open except for an area at the center of the island, where the rare birds have re-established their nesting colonies. So far, it appears people and birds are coexisting peacefully on the 5-acre area between Little St. Simons Island and Sea Island, Winn said.<br> <br> &#34;We have some families who&#39;ve gotten very protective of the birds,&#34; Winn said. &#34;Some people go out there almost every weekend and just kind of look after the birds.&#34;<br> <br> The five sandbarlike islands are the state&#39;s only nesting habitat for black skimmers, American oystercatchers, brown pelicans, least terns, Wilson&#39;s plover, gull-billed terns and royal terns. It also serves as essential feeding and wintering grounds for species such as the piping plower.<br> <br> &#34;We have a group of birds that nest only on these five islands in Georgia,&#34;<br> <br> The birds are important to biologists because they are an &#34;indicator species&#34; that can alert scientist to pollution, contamination of the food chain and other environmental problems, he said. Scientists are checking for signs of mercury and toxaphene, a restricted commercial insecticide.<br> <br> Kayakers Doug and Michelle Hickox of Atlanta said they weren&#39;t bothered by the restrictions on the island.<br> <br> &#34;The rules aren&#39;t that big of a hassle,&#34; said Doug Hickox, a computer programmer, while visiting Pelican Spit recently. &#34;So you can&#39;t bring a dog or go into that one area. It&#39;s no big deal, because there are lots of other beaches around here where you can do that if you want.&#34;<br>

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