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Once an infamous penitentiary housing the likes of mobsters Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly, Alcatraz Island now hosts scores of nesting seabirds

In a delightful twist of fate, Alcatraz Island, once home of the infamous Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, is being taken over by large colonies of birds. Visitors' spirits will be uplifted when they see the contrast between the empty cells and crumbling walls of the old penitentiary and the vigorous seabird colonies. Before this bird renaissance, the island had a gloomy air, as you might expect in a place that for decades housed the nation's most desperate criminals. But even before the penitentiary was built, this island was a forbidding presence in the San Francisco Bay.

In 1775, Don Juan Manuel de Ayala, a lieutenant in the Spanish navy, bestowed the name of Isla de los Alcatraces, or "Island of the Pelicans," upon a nearby island, now called Yerba Buena Island. He was inspired to give it this name because it appeared to be completely covered with pelicans, but he did not attempt to land at either island, because they looked bleak and offered no shelter for his ship. Later, in 1826, a British navy surveyor unwittingly transferred the name Alcatraz Island to the place that bears this name today.

# posted by Medical Information : 1:41 AM