ORANGE BEACH, Ala. —  (Updated with related photo gallery) Saturday morning human beings will be crawling all over Bird Island in Perdido Bay to make it an even better place for the birds.

Tracy Holiday of the Islands of Perdido Foundation says several work days are planned for both Bird and Robinson islands in the bay and Saturday is the first of those.

“We’re going to be doing habitat restoration work,” she said. “The islands have gotten so much more use in the past few years and the habitats haven’t had any work on it. The herons are literally losing trees every time we have a wind storm.

“Just a lot of things have gone downhill on those islands and on those grass beds and it’s just time for us to take care of them because of more intense use and because we kind of let things go.”

Saturday’s work will focus on nesting platforms for the great blue heron population. Volunteers are to meet at the Boggy Point Boat Launch at 9 a.m. Food, water and transportation will be provided.

Volunteers are urged to wear long pants and boots and don’t forget to bring your shovels and gloves. Contact Tracy Holiday at holiday.tracym@gmail.com or 251-752-2245 to reserve your spot.

“What we’re going to do with this is erect the post and then put five different platforms on it,” Holiday said. “Herons nest in little clusters. They are group nesters. So we’re going to put five little platforms off of the pole so that they can have little group areas.”

The platforms have had success in other areas and Holiday hopes they will also work here.

“They’ve done one, a little test site in Texas, and they’ve done one in Missouri for herons and it’s worked in both places to a certain extent,” she said. “You wrap sticks around it and to get a better result you can put like a fake heron in there. It can even be like a little flat shadow of one or something to make them think there’s already somebody in that nest area.”

The first platform will built in the Public Works department, Holiday said, to get an idea of how they go together. Templates will be cut for another four that will be assembled on the island on Saturday morning.

“We’re going to do five total posts,” she said. “We’re going to have to pump a hole and hand place them. We have a little crew ready to do them. It’s going to be a little challenging, but we’re excited about it.”

The nesting poles are just part of the project. With the large number of volunteers expected Holiday said there will be trees to plant and signs to erect.

“We’re going to plant bigger trees than we’ve ever done,” she said. “We’re going to plant 10-gallon trees. Those were donated through a grant through the Apache Foundation. (Rep.) Jo Bonner was a part of getting that grant.”

The Apache Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Apache Corp., according the company’s website. The Apache Tree Grant Program focuses on improving wildlife habitats, restoring storm damage, and enhancing cities and neighborhoods.

The signs will inform visitors about the nests and about blue herons in general. The signs were purchased with a BP education grant, Holiday said.

On the smaller of the two islands, Robinson, a fence will be installed to protect other bird habitat.

“There are some birds called least terns that nest on the ground on the inside of the island and we need to put up fencing on the center of that to keep dogs from running across the nests,” Holiday said. “People don’t really go into the interior of that island, but it’s to make people aware there are shore birds there.”

Also on Saturday a general cleanup effort will take place on the islands. Other cleanup and work days will be planned before spring break season.

“There will be other days later on, but we’ll also be doing cleanup of bigger items that are out there,” Holiday said. “Just overall cleanup and getting ready for spring and summer out on the island.

“They are a resource for us. People love to go out there. They’re good for the locals and they’re good for the tourists. People love to bird watch out there. They are a great place for crab and shrimp and trout to have their babies. It’s a nursery really.”