Bye bye birdies - U.S. Coast guard photo

MERRITT ISLAND WILDLIFE REFUGE, Fla. - Six brown pelicans, four laughing gulls and one common tern were released Sunday, June 6, 2010 after being flown aboard a U.S. Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane from the Fort Jackson Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, La., to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Dr. Sharon Taylor, a veterinarian with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, oversaw the recovery and release of the birds, which had been oiled near the Louisiana coast. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service photo by Bill Nunn.