RABBIT ISLAND, La. (AP) — Restoration of an island in Louisiana’s fragile coastal area is proving wildly popular with the birds it was rebuilt for, their numbers exploding on the recently added land, authorities said Wednesday.

Pelicans, egrets, herons, ibis, terns, and other colonial water birds built about 6,100 nests on Rabbit Island — more than 16 times the number biologists had expected, a news release from the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority said.