Living Shorelines Make Nesting Easier for Coastal Birds in Tampa Bay

A year ago, Audubon Florida’s Florida Coastal Islands Sanctuaries (FCIS) team completed four breakwater projects across the Tampa Bay region. These breakwaters protect the shorelines of mangrove islands that wading birds, such as Reddish Egrets and Wood Storks, as well as ground-nesting American Oystercatchers, rely on to raise their families. The breakwaters were designed to be populated by oysters, creating a “living shoreline,” which provides a food source for birds, protection from wave action, and natural water filtration.

Oysters and barnacles are already recruiting onto the breakwaters in good densities. Staff have noted visible differences in the amount of wave action: only smaller waves make it through the breakwaters, reducing erosion along the islands’ edges. Oyster colonies should continue to grow across these sites into the future—providing both food for wildlife and improving surrounding water quality. Looking back to an older living shoreline project at the Alafia Banks Critical Wildlife Area, the future success of these sites looks bright.

Spotlight: Alafia Banks

Each year, thousands of wading birds of 17 different species nest here, making it one of the largest wading bird colonies on Florida’s Gulf Coast. In 2019, almost a mile of breakwater structures was installed at the Alafia Banks, leased from and managed in collaboration with The Mosaic Company and Port Tampa Bay. Six years later, oysters cover much of the breakwater with massive oyster mats connecting many of the individual structures together. There are even mangroves springing up from the oyster mats within the breakwater! On the shoreline, young mangroves have re-established themselves in areas where mature mangroves had been toppled by wave action and erosion, thereby making the island more resilient to sea level rise. Additionally, the living shorelines minimized damage from Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024, protecting much of the coast and vegetation across the Alafia Banks and the birds that rely on this habitat.

This article was published in the Audubon Florida Naturalist Winter 2025 issue.