Shell Keys National Wildlife Refuge is located is located in the offshore waters to the west of the Atchafalaya River Delta, south of Marsh Island Wildlife
Management Area. It was established in 1907 and is one of the oldest refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Boundary

Due to coastal erosion, the refuge boundary is not well defined. It has been described as "... a small group of unsurveyed islets located in the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

 about three and one half miles south of Marsh Island (Louisiana)

Marsh Island (Louisiana)

Marsh Island is an island off the coast of southern Louisiana in the United States.Marsh Island is an uninhabited low-lying marshy island in Iberia Parish, south coastal Louisiana, lying between Vermilion Bay and the Gulf of Mexico...

, and approximately at latitude 29 degrees 26 minutes north, longitude 91 degrees 51 minutes west from Greenwich..." The boundary of the refuge has been interpreted to be those areas in this vicinity that are above mean high tide.

Wildlife and habitat

For a number of years, there has been only one islet at this location. This islet is composed almost entirely of shell fragments. It is extremely dynamic and builds or recedes with passing storms. Vegetation is almost entirely lacking. Birds known to nest here include royal tern

Royal Tern

The Royal Tern is a seabird in the tern family Sternidae. This bird has two distinctive subspecies. T. m. maximus breeds on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the southern USA and Mexico into the Caribbean. The slightly smaller T. m. albididorsalis breeds in coastal west Africa...

s, sandwich terns, black skimmer

Black Skimmer

The Black Skimmer, Rynchops niger, is a tern-like seabird, one of three very similar birds species in the skimmer family. It breeds in North and South America...

s, and laughing gull

Laughing Gull

The Laughing Gull, Leucophaeus atricilla, is a medium-sized gull of North and South America. It breeds on the Atlantic coast of North America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. Northernmost populations migrate further south in winter, and this species occurs as a rare vagrant to western...

s. In addition, the islet is used at various times as a loafing area by white pelican

White Pelican

The Great White Pelican, Pelecanus onocrotalus also known as the Eastern White Pelican or White Pelican is a bird in the pelican family...

s, brown pelican

Brown Pelican

The Brown Pelican is the smallest of the eight species of pelican, although it is a large bird in nearly every other regard. It is in length, weighs from and has a wingspan from .-Range and habits:...

s, and various other species of terns and gulls. Recent hurricanes and storms have eroded the island to such an extent that no nesting has occurred since 1992. Public access to the refuge is restricted due to its remoteness.

See also

• List of National Wildlife Refuges: Louisiana