Our friends at the Golden Gate Audubon Society recently sent out an interesting link via their listserv to a report by the National Park Service regarding colonial waterbirds breeding on Alcatraz Island. Among these birds are Brandt's  and Pelagic Cormorants, Western Gulls, Pigeon Guillemots, Black Oystercatchers, Black-crowned Night Herons, Great Egrets, and Snowy Egrets. As the report notes, "the Brandt's Cormorant and Pigeon Guillemot colonies on Alcatraz are the only nesting sites for these birds in the San Francisco Bay, and the Western Gull, Black-crowned Night Heron, and Pelagic Cormorant colonies are among the largest in the Bay."

The report concludes:

Active protection and management of seabird breeding habitat on Alcatraz is undoubtedly critical to the observed growth and maintenance of Alcatraz seabird populations. Without portions of the island being closed to staff and visitors during the breeding season, most bird species on Alcatraz would not have sufficient undisturbed breeding habitat to produce young.