In the Autumn, 2024, issue of Living Bird from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, an article describes both the importance of and threat to Deveaux Bank, an offshore island at the mouth of the Edisto River, near Charleston, South Carolina. Long known as an important breeding site for brown pelicans, black skimmers and other marine birds, it gained special notoriety in 2017 when it was documented to be a rest stop for 20,0000 whimbrels, migrating between the Arctic and South America.
As is reported in the article, Deveaux Bank was significantly eroded by Hurricane Idalia and another powerful storm last year, though some acreage has since been added back by river sediment. Knowing its importance as both a marine bird nesting site and as a rest stop for half of the whimbrels in Eastern North America (in addition to other shorebird migrants), the island was closed to human use for seven months (March 15-October 15).
This saga highlights the fact that humans are not the only species affected by climate change (though we were the only species to cause it). Then again, many, if not most species are more adaptable than we are; nevertheless, we must intervene on their behalf whenever possible.
