Gabby & Ethan just returned from a trip to Louisiana where they had a fabulous time birding and spending time with family. Here is her write up & pictures of their adventures.
We spent six days in Louisiana visiting Ethan's family and birdwatching during Spring migration season.
We took a red-eye flight on Thursday night, arriving early Friday morning. Ethan's dad, Tim, picked us up for a quick breakfast and then we drove to the Amite River Wildlife Sanctuary to meet up with Ethan's aunt Jane, who is the president of the Baton Rouge Audubon Society and manages the park. We saw lots of birds, as well as some alligators and a large Black Racer snake. Afterwards, we stopped for lunch in Mandeville, near where we stayed back in 2022 for the Ambler family reunion, before continuing on to Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge for some more birding. We were both pretty exhausted at that point (I had done a lot of napping in the car), so we headed back to Tim's place in Covington for a real nap and homemade gumbo dinner.
On Saturday, we carpooled with Jane to an Audubon walk at Oakley Plantation, which is part of the Audubon State Historic Site in Saint Francisville. Afterwards, we drove out to Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge to walk the short Big Cypress Trail. We saw about a dozen baby Banded Water Snakes in one puddle off the trail, which was super cool, as well as some small frogs and a fishing spider. We stopped for a delicious sandwich lunch at Basel's Market (maybe my favorite meal of the trip!) before driving back into Covington. Tim drove us around town, and we stopped for a snowball (Louisiana's version of shaved ice) before picking up Ethan's granddad, Pete, for dinner.
On Sunday, we drove out to Grand Isle, which is one of the southernmost islands in Louisiana and reachable by several long bridges. Based on its location in the Gulf, a whole lot of migratory birds stop here on their way north from Central and South America. We stayed in a large stilt house with Tim, Jane, Pete and his wife Phyllis, and Ethan's cousin Nora with her husband Gary and daughter Effie Belle. Once we arrived on the island, we met up with Jane for our first birding excursion at Lafitte Woods, which is managed by The Nature Conservancy and known locally as Sherway Woods. Unfortunately, we both got the majority of our bug bites for the trip on this first walk. We dropped our stuff at the house at check-in around 4:00 PM and went out to dinner as a group at the Starfish Restaurant. After dinner, Jane drove us over to some ponds on the far side of the island and we got our first look at Roseate Spoonbills, which were my big goal bird for this trip.
We woke up early on Monday to bird at the Grilletta Tract, also managed by The Nature Conservancy. We stopped at the nearby Ninety West Park, which is located on the 90 W longitudinal line. We stopped near the ponds again and did some birding by car around the island, as there are a lot of wetland ditches and fields that get birds. After a supply run at the grocery store, we dropped by the house to make sandwiches for lunch, and then Ethan and I caught a ride with Pete and Phyllis to the beach. This was my first time (that I remember) seeing and going into the Gulf of Mexico! We saw several Portuguese man o' war washed up on the beach, which look like jellyfish but are technically hydrozoan. We met Jane at the house to go bird at both of The Nature Conservancy tracts again before heading home for a spaghetti dinner, courtesy of Tim.
On Tuesday, Ethan, Jane, Tim, Pete, and I started at Sherway Woods before visiting the Grand Isle Marina to look for seabirds. We also saw lots of Bottlenose Dolphins splashing around and breaching out of the water! On the way home, we stopped by the local golf cart rental place for Nora and Gary. I had to drive the golf cart back to the house, which was kind of scary. The carts aren't allowed on the main road, so I had to use the shoulder and cut over to the beach. Luckily, Ethan and I survived with all of our limbs and belongings intact! After lunch at home, we drove to Elmer's Island Wildlife Refuge to look for shorebirds. Ethan and I took a quick nap at home before heading back out with Jane to the Grilletta Tract for some sunset birding and another snowball on the way home. Nora and Tim made crawfish etouffee for dinner, which I did try, although I mostly ate garlic bread.
We woke up early Wednesday for some birding by golf cart on the beach with Jane before we had to check out of the rental house. We drove back north with Tim and stopped in Des Allemands for an airboat tour of the swamp. We saw some really big alligators, as well as a few last bird species to add to our trip list. After one last lunch, we stopped for some souvenir shopping before heading to the airport. We got there pretty early, so we grabbed beignets at Cafe Du Monde before heading to our gate. Our flight was unfortunately delayed, so we ended up leaving around 7:45 PM EST and landing in Seattle around 10:45 PM PST. Because our flight was so delayed, we knew we wouldn't be able to catch our usual bus home, so my coworker graciously picked us up from the Northgate light rail station, and we finally got home around 1:00 AM.
In all, we saw a total of 122 different bird species, about half of which were lifers for me and a third of which were lifers for Ethan. My favorites were the Roseate Spoonbill, Hooded Warbler, and Least Bittern. Ethan's favorites were the Loggerhead Shrike, Yellow-Billed Cuckoo, and Kentucky Warbler. It was a great trip!
Day 1 Photos:
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| Prothonotary Warbler |
Day 2 Photos:
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All of the snowball flavors.
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| Gabby had the Tiger's Blood which had watermelon, strawberry and coconut. |
Day 3 Photos:
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| Arriving to Grand Isle. |
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| Spoonbills! |
Day 4 Photos:
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| Louisiana Iris |
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| Brown Pelican |
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| Sanderling |
Day 5 Photos:
Day 6 Photos:
Some extra pictures from Ethan's phone:
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| Summer Tanager |
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| The dreaded Banded Water Snake! |
