Cruise to Gaillard Island

Gaillard Island, which is man-made from dredge material from the Theodore Industrial Canal, is one of the largest pelican rookeries on the northern Gulf Coast. Named for Mobile dentist Dr. Wilson Gaillard, who had the idea, it was explicitly created for shorebirds to use for nesting.

More than 20,000 pelicans use the island along with other shorebirds, such as several species of terns, gulls, herons, egrets, and white Ibises, among others. Although the island is protected and not accessible to the public, birding is usually good around the perimeter, where the adult birds fly back and forth from the mainland.