HOUMA -- Raccoon Island is a seemingly perfect place for the booming population of endangered brown pelicans that inhabit it: it's at the edge of the Gulf of Mexico and offers ample bushy, black mangroves and thick marsh grasses for nesting.

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With the help of a $200,000 grant from U.S. Fish and Wildlife, state biologists transported 100 juvenile birds from Raccoon Island to nearby Whiskey Island to start a new colony of pelicans. Each bird was about 6-8 weeks old and tagged with a band around its leg to track it's growth.

But after nearby pelican populations took a hit from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, officials decided it was time to step in. State Wildlife and Fisheries is moving 100 young birds from Raccoon Island to nearby Whiskey Island to begin a new colony of pelicans.

Whiskey Island is a barrier island that has been built up with dredged materials and provides nesting birds more protection from storms.

The 2005 hurricanes took out several nesting sites east of the Mississippi River. The Chandeleur Islands were reduced in size by 90 percent, said Tom Hess, a biologist manager with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. The number of baby pelicans hatched in the state declined from an all-time high of 39,021 in 2004 to 17,566 in 2006.

Although Raccoon Island wasn't drastically hurt by those hurricanes, factors including too much storm damage and little to no sediment from the Mississippi River have combined to shrink it considerably. The island is now so small you can see the whole thing from any one spot.

Still, nearly 3,600 pairs of birds are nesting on Raccoon Island, producing about 7,000 chicks, Hess said. That's a big population that would be very vulnerable should another storm hit.

A group of biologists with the state and University of Louisiana at Lafayette began catching and moving pelicans recently. They chose birds that were 6 to 8 weeks old -- old enough that their feathers were beginning to fill out, but young enough that it would be a few weeks before they could fly.

That will keep the birds on Whiskey Island long enough to adapt, Hess said. University students will visit the islands daily to feed the pelicans until they are old enough to fend for themselves.

Pelicans are loyal to nesting sites, so while they'll naturally migrate out to nest at new sites eventually, Hess said it can sometimes be a slow process.

"We are looking to help them along, and fast track establishing new colonies," he said.

Officials gathered the young in pairs and brought them to the beach to be tagged with a bright yellow band with an identifying code to help track the birds.

"One thing we know about Louisiana pelicans is that they travel," Hess said. "Our birds have been found in Florida, Mexico and even South America. But this way we always know where they are."

A small feather was plucked from each pelican's wing so biologists could get a blood sample, which will be tested for contaminants.

Paul Leberg, a professor of biology with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, said he plans to study how the new colony's genetics change over time.

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Eventually, Leberg said, he wants to study how pelican populations will adapt to living on islands made of dredge spoil.

Though the brown pelican is Louisiana's state bird, it had completely disappeared from the coast by 1961. The birds began disappearing from the coasts of other states, too. A pesticide called Endrin, a chemical compound related to DDT, entered the bodies of many pelicans through fish and other food sources. Once the chemical built up to high levels, it caused them to lay brittle eggs, which were crushed under the weight of nesting mother birds.

After the chemicals were banned, Louisiana officials sought to rebuild the brown-pelican population. The state brought 1,276 birds from Florida between 1968 and 1980, resulting in a population of 39,021 nesting pairs of birds in Louisiana by 2004. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists the bird as endangered in parts of the country.

Officials began introducing pelicans to Raccoon Island in 1984, and that population has boomed to what we see today, Hess said.

"The population has recovered, and what we're seeing in Louisiana today is healthy," he said. "But we need to continue to encourage that by establishing healthy colonies."

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)