UNEXPECTED WILDLIFE.

This article presents information about an unlikely place where birds and other wild creatures can be viewed. Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, home of the former maximum-security prison, is one of the most popular sites to view several species of seabirds including Brandt's cormorant, pigeon guillemots, snowy egrets, and western California gulls. The island had long been a haven and roosting area for many birds, but when the prison was opened in 1934, human activity had driven the birds away. After Alcatraz closed in 1963, birds began to return to the island.