Brown pelican, the Louisiana state bird recently taken off the endangered species list, on Cat Island, a barrier island in Barrataria Bay in Plaquimens Parish, Louisiana. The barrier islands in the Gulf of Mexico are threaten by coastal erosion that was sped up since the BP oil spill which killed off much of the grass and mangrove trees that hold the islands together. Plaquimens Parish started it's own coastal restoration project for Cat Island, a bird rookery for the pelican ahead of the Restore the Coast Act for fear there would be too little of the island left to save.