Author: Anna Gurney
If you build it, they will come—nesting waterbirds, that is.
For over a year, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) staff have coordinated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other partners on a project to restore an important waterbird nesting island near Cape Lookout National Seashore. The island, known as Sandbag Island, is owned and managed by NCWRC and provides greatly needed nesting habitat for several species of waterbirds, including American oystercatchers, brown pelicans and herring gulls. Unfortunately, recent storms have led to rapid erosion, causing the island to shrink from roughly 2 acres in 2019 to less than one-tenth of an acre last winter.
The Corps already had plans to dredge the neighboring channel that runs from Harkers Island to the ocean, which had become challenging to navigate due to heavy shoaling, but it needed places to put the dredged material and agreed that Sandbag Island would be an excellent option. Maintaining navigability of the channel and restoring nesting habitat had the potential to be a win-win situation. Plans were developed to remove material from the channel via a pipeline and pump it to what remained of Sandbag Island. Nearby submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), important for fisheries and as foraging habitat for waterbirds, also needed to be protected. So, Corps staff and the dredging contractor placed floating turbidity curtains, which resemble a shower curtain suspended from pool noodles with weights at the bottom, in the water surrounding the work area to prevent the slurry of sand and water being pumped onto the island from reaching the SAV.
As development on the coast has increased, waterbirds (many of which need open, sandy habitat to nest) have fewer places to raise their young. While dredged material islands are not suitable habitat for all waterbirds, they provide excellent nesting habitat for many species, including terns and skimmers. Staff were excited to find that within days of the project’s completion, two pairs of American oystercatchers, a state species of special concern, had established territories on the island and soon laid nests. National Park Service staff, whose office looks out on Sandbag Island, are helping NCWRC monitor the nests, and staff hope that even more birds will nest next year.
