Sunday, June 30, 2013

A Week in New Orleans

   Berry and I traveled south to bird the city of New Orleans and the swamps around it. We bought train tickets and took Amtrak. You've never seen America till you've seen it from a train. We suggest getting a sleeper car, with privacy and meals included. We rented a car in the Big Easy and we were done. Fantastic food, amazing birding. Birding New Orleans was a great idea.

   Almost immediately upon arriving, we noticed the catastrophic damage from hurricane Katrina in 2005. But the people have worked hard. Some parts of the city were filled with new construction. There is still the old French charm along St. Charles and alligators in the Jean LaFitte swamp. I took a picture of this one.

   We found two Life Birds, we'd never identified before. In the Bayou Sauvage, we saw the Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus Carolinus) and in a canal inside the city, the White Rumped Falcon (Polihierax insignis), both which we added to our Life List on the right. Below is the Trip List of all the birds we saw in New Orleans.

Trip List

   There is always a contest for the "Bird of the Trip". A vigorous discussion among serious birders to determine the pecking order. Berry might nominate the Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) which seemed to graze in every open field. They are smallish white birds, tinged with gold, in the ibis family. The "bird of the trip" might also be the Yellow Crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea) which was almost ubiquitous on this trip. This is a distinctive gray egret with a black and white head. We saw it in puddly city parks and tangled jungle swamps.

   If the bird of the trip should be the most unique bird we saw, then maybe the Masked Duck (Nomonyx dominicus) or the non-domestic, "true wild" version of the Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata) we saw at the pond in La Freniere Park in Metairie.

  

Robert and Berry

photos courtesy of bshelton, rfowler

Posted by the Author at 7:48 PM

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 13, 2013 at 12:43 PM

    HI - INSPIRING ARTICLE.

    I WILL BE IN NEW ORLEANS BETWEEN 3RD AND 5TH AUGUST. DO YOU KNOW WHERE BEST TO LOOK FOR PAINTED BUNTINGS PLEASE, OR SUGGEST ANY CONTACTS?
    KIND REGARDS
    DAVE JACKSON
    WOLVERHAMPTON
    ENGLAND

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJuly 13, 2013 at 5:30 PM

    We see Painted Buntings regularly in northern Mississippi. In grassy areas near deciduous trees. In the New Orleans area, go to the Jefferson and St. Bernard parishes south of the city, where there are swampy grasslands and small shrubs to look for them. Alas, we did not see the Painted Bunting while we were in New Orleans. But there you will hear the liquid whistle of the Indigo Bunting, almost everywhere.

    Robert

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)