Georgia's last shorebird and seabird colonies threatened by people, pets, rising tides

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Four miles from the marshy shores of Richmond Hill's Fort McAllister Historic State Park sits the Ogeechee Bar: a four-acre sandy oasis just barely above the high tide line, full of tidal pools and Spartina grass. Thousands of royal terns, least terns, sandpipers, American oystercatchers—and their shrieks—fill the air upon our arrival, leaving behind their confetti-speckled green, lavender and white eggs exposed in dimples they dug in the sand.
But their departure means that we can't stay for long. The 90-degree heat can cook the chicks unable to regulate their own body temperatures. They need their parents to squat over them for shade, says Georgia Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist Fletcher Smith. 'Five to 15 minutes of the birds being off the nest can kill the whole colony.'
But the chicks battle more than heat. This bird haven has already been overcome by king and high tides twice this year that washed away two previous rounds of eggs. Four dead black skimmer chicks lay near the water, three of which are surrounded by a dog's paw prints.
'It's very suspicious,' says Smith, as he and a couple volunteers carry poles and rope to section off about 100 more nests from wandering people and pets.
The Ogeechee Bar is one of the last remaining sites for breeding shorebirds and seabirds along the Georgia coast, along with the Brunswick Bird Island, Cumberland Dividings, and Little Tybee Cabbage Island Natural Area. The DNR is now proposing to list these four islands under the protection of the Bird Island Rule enacted in 1998 to shelter five of Georgia's bird breeding islands from human disturbance. But now that these five islands are already compromised, adding these four islands is necessary to protect vulnerable eggs and chicks—especially from pets.
'Someone out here with a dog could wipe out most of the productivity from the state of Georgia and America,' says Georgia DNR program manager Timothy Keyes.
The original bird islands
Georgia's coast has long served as a rest stop along the Atlantic Flyaway for birds migrating at least a few thousand miles between South America and Greenland, or in some cases, as far as the Arctic Circle.
Many of those migrating birds historically nested on Georgia's beach fronts but have left as swaths of shorelines were overtaken by tourism, development and terrestrial predators. When they turned to natural sand bars that formed at the mouths of rivers, those disappeared, too. 'In the last 15 or 20 years, we've had much more erosion and loss than we have had accretion,' says Keyes. And 'sea level rise on the coast doesn't help.'
But it appeared that five islands could still provide nesting nooks offshore. In 1998, the DNR enacted the Bird Island Rule to protect the entirety of St. Catherines Island Bar Natural Area, Egg Island Bar Natural Area and Satilla River Marsh Island Natural Area, and restricted parts of the Pelican Spit Natural Area and Williamson Island from human activity. On all, pets are prohibited.
For 30 years, this rule has stood without change. But these islands have since succumbed to hurricanes, rising sea level, erosion and infiltration by predators—rendering them inhospitable for nesting. 'All of them are not as good as they were in the late '90s,' says Keyes.
The new islands
While the law may be outdated, the birds have already moved on.
'These birds are adapted to changing environments,' says Keyes. 'If the bar emerges is high enough, birds will try to use it.'
One of the bars just barely high enough for birds to nest is the Ogeechee Bar—a naturally created island made of sediments carried by Ogeechee River, full of fish that get picked up by birds and deposited into the mouths of chicks. Horseshoe crabs also spawn on this island—a critical food source for the 4,000 migrating red knots, a federally threatened species.
Another is Brunswick Bird Island—a 9-acre sand pile built by the Army Corps of Engineers looking for a place to dump sediment when dredging the Brunswick port in 2007. A cheap option for the Corps ended up sheltering the largest shorebird and seabird nesting colony in coastal Georgia, partially due the island's 14-foot height that can withstand king tides and so far, some storms. Imported rocks lining its edge prevent sand from slipping into the water.
Birds began nesting on Brunswick Bird Island almost immediately after it emerged, and they now seem quite cozy with their roommates—or at least, have an amicable understanding of who goes where, and who gets along with whom. 'Least terns and skimmers always nest together,' Keyes says, as do royal terns and sandwich terns. 'Pelicans typically just nest with pelicans.' Lone ospreys, eagles, and turkey vultures circle overhead to snatch up a chick, but the thick canopy of thousands of birds diving towards their offspring with mouths full of shrimp and fish make hunting difficult.
The more birds on the island, 'the more eyes are out looking for predators,' says Keyes.
The deadliest predators are four-legged
But there are some predators that the birds cannot protect their chicks and eggs from.
Short nonnative crowfoot grass covers the top of Brunswick Island like a green and yellow buzzcut, which the DNR is attempting to control with prescribed burns and herbicides sprayed during the winter months, to avoid attracting mammals like hogs and coyotes that can swim for miles from the mainland to the island, Keyes says.
And when a predator wreaks havoc one season, the birds 'won't come again,' says Smith, which is what happened on Williamson Island and Little Egg Island with raccoons. They will remember 'for a lifetime, and these birds can live for 20 to 30 years.'
As for dogs, the DNR and partner organizations can only rope off sensitive areas of the island, and hope people comply.
'Virtually every time we come out here on a weekend, somebody is bringing dogs,' says Smith. 'For now, we tell them to try to keep their dog on the leash... and keep them away from the seabird colony.'
The dogs scare off the birds from their nests, leaving them exposed to heat and predation. Chicks, too, must make risky treks to the water's edge to cool off. Keyes says he has seen plenty of dogs kill birds on the Ogeechee Bar and Georgia's beloved American oystercatcher chicks on Little Tybee Island.
As for now, signs are erected on these islands to discourage pets, and sometimes, boats from landing on the island itself, as is the case with Brunswick Island during nesting season from May to August. But DNR's law enforcement team can only penalize people for trespassing the second time they are caught, Keyes says. With the new changes to the Bird Island Rule, people can be penalized the moment they disregard the stated rules, depending on the island.
"It's hard for our law enforcement to enforce a closure without this site explicitly listed,' says Keyes.
Implications
Not only will the DNR add four new sites in the proposed rule change, but it will also be able to add or remove future islands when needed. Like the tides, islands and sand bars will continue to fluctuate through further erosion and storm events, and possibly, predator intrusion. While the DNR is also looking at solutions for beach renourishment and island stability, those may only be temporary fixes.
'We're hoping to build into the rule flexibility, so that we don't have to do this over [again],' Keyes says.
In the meantime, the DNR and partner conservations organizations like 100 Miles and Manomet are working to educate the public to stay away from these unlisted sensitive sites with signage, volunteerism, and public forums. Keyes also speaks with ecotourism guides whenever he sees them on the water. 'I give them information about the island,' he says. 'I'll email them the nest counts for the year.' Some guides also voluntarily complete Manomet's certification program, in partnership with the University of Georgia Marine Extension.
'We don't want to take away good recreation opportunities from people,' says Keyes. 'We just want to be able to protect the most vulnerable sites.'
After three rounds of public comment, the state Board of Natural Resources is expected to consider the amendments on September 23, 2025.
Public Comment
The next public hearings for proposed changes to the Bird Island Rule are scheduled for 6 p.m., July 19 at Crooked River State Park, 6222 Charlie Smith Senior Highway, St. Marys, Ga., and at 6 p.m., Aug. 6 at Skidaway Island State Park, 52 Diamond Causeway, Savannah, Ga.
The deadline for comments is 4:30 p.m., Aug. 22. Written statements sent by mail must be postmarked by Aug. 22 to Tim Keyes, Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division, Wildlife Conservation Section, One Conservation Way, Suite 310, Brunswick, Ga., 31520.
Jillian Magtoto covers climate change and the environment in coastal Georgia. You can reach her at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Four islands to be protected for Georgia's last shorebird colonies
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