Alcatraz Island is home to thousands of seabirds … only because a lack of human activity has allowed them to flourish since the federal prison on the island closed in 1963.
The San Francisco Bay Area is a stronghold for migratory birds that fly to and from North America and South America during mating seasons. An estimated one billion birds utilize the Pacific Flyway — a 4,000-mile-long stretch of migratory passageways that hug the Pacific coastline of the Americas, running from Alaska to Patagonia — stopping at various spots on the flyway to feed, mate, and nest. (Not each of the estimated 250 bird species travels the entire length of the flyway, but all utilize parts of it during their adult lives.)
For us in San Francisco, Alcatraz Island, which houses a decommissioned federal penitentiary (that has recently garnered attention amid Trump’s plan to reopen the defunct facility), is an accessible touchstone to see avian fauna that use the Pacific Flyway. It’s also an important nesting place for a certain type of seabird: cormorants.
Unlike most seabirds, cormorants have the unique ability to reach depths as far down as 260 feet, using their wings as makeshift flippers. Cormorants, too, are one of just a handful of bird species observed to scavenge along the seafloor, capable of holding their breath for minutes at a time.
Alcatraz Island historically is home to three species of cormorant, and remains the only place in the entire San Francisco Bay Area where the Brandt’s and the Pelagic cormorant species have established breeding colonies. (The third cormorant species on Alcatraz, the Double-crested Cormorant, is more common and has multiple breeding colonies across the region.)
Golden Gate Park Park National Conservancy shared that these birds are frequently seen around the island fluffing up their feathers, because their feathers aren’t waterproof — “even though they’re diving birds, cormorants don’t have waterproof feathers, which is why you can often see them drying off their wings, spread out on a rock!”
After closing in 1963, the combination of a lack of human activity and rewilding efforts, i.e., removal of certain invasive land predators and rat populations dwindling (because of said lack of human activity), created an opportunity for birds to return. Now, the nationally recognized historic landmarks house over 5,000 nesting bird pairs during the nesting season.
Trump’s misguided and childish yearning to open Alcatraz Prison — which, if done so, would cost taxpayers upwards of $5 million to see the space modernized and updated to meet federal compliances; daily upkeep and staffing costs could easily soar past $20,000 — could spell disaster for the island’s bird population. Here’s hoping an adult does, in fact, find his or her or way into the room before such plans are solidified.
Feature Image: Courtesy of Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
