Lifebirds #253-263 – Cajun Country
When I look back at our 2008 trip to Louisiana, I am surprised we were only able to find seventeen lifers. It was one of the birdiest places we’ve ever been. But of course many of the birds we saw were not lifers for us. We did have “life looks” at some familiar birds and a few of these are included in the photo album for this page (only lifers are represented in the thumbnails).
Bayou Sauvage
As I researched Louisiana birding references before our trip, I found one place mentioned often: the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge. Some of the references warned that damage from Hurricane Katrina continued to impact the refuge. Surely though, we thought, after the passing of almost three years since the hurricane, most of the refuge would be open. Not so as it turned out. But once we saw many areas of the city and whole neighborhoods still devastated and unrepaired, we could understand why the refuge was not yet whole. There were far bigger tragedies to deal with than the closing of access to Bayou Sauvage.
Nevertheless—feeling fortunate and even a bit guilty to be in the area not to help, but to have fun—we did visit ourselves the refuge that were accessible. The birdlife, at least, was mostly undisturbed and we found six lifers as we (mostly) birded by car on the refuge.
The Black Vulture was our first lifer of the day. We saw dozens, of course. Next we saw Brown Pelicans. No shortage of them either (the photo used above was taken years later in Belize).
The Boat-tailed Grackle was a bit of a identification challenge for us as fledgling birders. We had, though, done our homework before the trip. Both Great-tailed and Boat-tailed Grackles occur in the area. But the habitat—saltwater marsh close to the coast—and the appearance of the bird favored Boat-tailed. The eyes are a very good indication: darker in the Boat-tailed and much brighter in the Great-tailed.
While photographing the grackles, we stumbled on Bronzed Cowbirds at our feet in the gravel turnout by the side of the road. This was unexpected. Though guides show them in Louisiana, they are more commonly found farther west. For a cowbird, they are quite attractive with striking red eyes.
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| Species | Black Vulture / Coragyps atratus |
| Species | Brown Pelican / Pelecanus occidentalis |
| Species | Boat-tailed Grackle / Quiscalus major |
| Species | Bronzed Cowbird / Molothrus aeneus |
| Species | Swallow-tailed Kite / Elanoides forficatus |
| Species | Forster's Tern / Sterna forsteri |
| Where | USA-LA-Orleans-Bayou Sauvage NWR |
| Species | Tufted Titmouse / Baeolophus bicolor |
| Species | Carolina Wren / Thryothorus ludovicianus |
| Where | USA-LA-Jefferson-Barataria Preserve |
| Species | Tricolored Heron / Egretta tricolor |
| Species | Little Blue Heron / Egretta caerulea |
| Species | Anhinga / Anhinga anhinga |
| Where | USA-LA-Orleans-Audubon Park in New Orleans |
| When | Apr 8 2008 |
| With | Joann |
| Numbers | 253-263 |
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