Field trips provide a range of options to experience the rich bird communities of Louisiana wetlands and the central Gulf Coast region, supplemented by the beginning of the fall migration season. Join us for some of Louisiana's best migrant birding in a day trip to Grand Isle (the most accessible barrier island) or a three-day trip to the rice field country of southwest Louisiana. A day trip to the Delta National Wildlife Refuge visits the mouth of the Mississippi River, where waterfowl and wading birds abound in one of the most ecologically productive wetlands in the country. Canoeing the Honey Island Swamp, and owling the outskirts of New Orleans are two half-day excursions.

Another half-day trip will highlight the Red-cockaded Woodpecker, and its active management in the Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge north of Lake Pontchartrain. On a day trip to the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge learn about the intensive program to maintain this population of approximately 100 endangered cranes through captive breeding and the management of nesting habitat – the longleaf pine savanna of coastal Mississippi. Jean Lafitt e National Historical Park and Preserve, south on the delta from New Orleans, boasts some of the most beautiful swamps accessible by foot, and its Bayou Coquille trail ends overlooking the country' s only flotant (floating freshwater) marsh. Hummingbird banding and gardening by local experts, swamp boating tours, and daily early morning bird walks in New Orleans parks round out the menu for " tasting" the diversity and abundance of Louisiana bird life.

Excursion schedules and other details, and sign-up information will be posted on this page as further information becomes available. , Additional resources for local birding can be accessed from the NAOC main conference web page. Early morning bird walks will be led by experienced local birders each morning of the conference (Wed, 25 Sep - Sat, 28 Sep) to locations in or near New Orleans, such as City Park, Audubon Park, and Bayous Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge. Sign-up sheets will be available at registration.

If you have questions regarding NAOC fieldtrips, e-mail Amy Smith Kyle. E-mail address:  amynfloyd@acadiacom.net

To Register for NAOC fieldtrips:

Step 1.  E-mail Amy Smith Kyle with your fieldtrip choices to see if there are spaces available.  If space is available, Amy will tentatively register you for the trips you requested at this time.

Please e-mail the following information:
Fieldtrip Participant’s Name
E-mail address
Names of the trip you are registering for
Dates of the trip

Step 2.  Amy Smith Kyle will e-mail you a confirmation reply.

Step 3.  Mail a check for fieldtrip fees, payable to Tulane University

Mail to: Amy Smith Kyle, NAOC Fieldtrips
            Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
            Tulane University
            310 Dinwiddie Hall
            New Orleans, LA  70118

Please include the following information with your check:

Fieldtrip Participant’s Name
Address
Daytime phone number
E-mail address
Name of the trip you are registering for
Date of the trip

Fieldtrip Registration deadline: September 6th, 2002

Refund policy:

Except where otherwise noted, if a fieldtrip is cancelled due to bad weather, your money will be refunded in full.  We will refund 90% of your money if you notify us before September 15th, 2002.  We will refund 85% of your money if you notify us after September 15th, 2002. No refunds for no shows.

Early morning bird walks will go out with experienced local birders every morning of the conference (Wednesday 25th-Saturday 28th Sept.) in Audubon Park, uptown New Orleans.  Meet no later than 6:30 A.M. at the park fountains just off St. Charles Avenue (and easily visible from the street).  Habitats include groomed live oak woodlands, golf course, bike paths, and lagoons (with a wading bird roost and other water birds).  This will be an opportunity to see migratory birds in passage. There are no field trip fees for the early morning bird walks.  Audubon Park is easily accessible via the St. Charles Street Car Line ($1.25 per person; allow at least 40 minutes to get to the park once you board in front of the hotel.  Get off at the Tulane University stop, just uptown from the Loyola University stop-you'll see Audubon Park on the Mississippi River side of the tracks as you approach your stop.  Please register for these walks, specifying the date or dates, so that we can arrange for more leaders if the group size becomes large.

Bring mosquito repellent (with plenty of DEET)!!

Description:  This full day trip visits a barrier island, migratory landbird stop over habitat and coastal marshes.  The Fourchon Road and Grand Isle birding areas offer some of the best birdwatching in the state.  Brown Pelicans are everywhere.  This is a fairly reliable place to see Reddish Egrets.   A variety of shorebirds can sometimes be found, including Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Willet, peep sandpipers and dowitchers.  Upland Sandpipers are sometimes seen in the fields on the east end of the island and American Golden Plover is also possible.  Sandwich, Caspian, Royal, Least, Forester’s and Common Terns may be seen flying along the beaches and coastal marshes.  What jewels the live oak woods hold depends on weather conditions and the behavior of migratory birds, but this is a prime time to luck out and catch the woods full of warblers.  Summer Tanagers, Painted and Indigo Buntings, Rose-breasted and Blue Grosbeaks, American Redstart, and Hooded, Tennessee, and Prothonotary Warblers, Ovenbird, and Northern Waterthrush are all possibilities.  Peregrine, Eastern Merlin, Sharp-shinned Hawk and Northern Harrier are migrant raptors that pass through Grand Isle at this time of year.  Shiny Cowbirds and Inca Doves are regulars at one birding stop on Grand Isle.

Bring binoculars, sunscreen, and insect repellent.  Participants should have breakfast before departure and take money for lunch.  This trip will have a local birder-guide.

Date:  Sun., Sept. 22nd, 2002 (specify date when signing up for this trip)
Date:  Sun., Sept. 29th, 2002 (specify date when signing up for this trip)
Departure time: 6:00 a.m.
Return time:  7:00 p.m.
Meeting place:  Intercontinental Hotel
Number of participants (max): 22
Meals:   We will stop for lunch somewhere for local cuisine (cost of lunch is not included in fieldtrip price).
Price:  $55 per person (includes transportation)

Trip Name: Birds and the Natural History of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve
Location: South on the delta from New Orleans, the park is near Lafitte, Louisiana.

Description:  A Park naturalist will lead us on an easy and scenic walk through one of the most beautiful swamps accessible by foot.  The 10,525-acre Barataria Preserve was created by Congress in 1978 to “preserve significant examples of the natural and historical resources of the Mississippi Delta region.”  A walk along the Bayou Coquille trail begins in a bottomland hardwood forest with a dwarf palmetto understory.  As the elevation drops, we enter into a baldcypress and water tupelo swamp.  The trail ends overlooking the continent’s only flotant (freshwater floating) marsh, and one of only four such expanses in the world!  Alligators are often spotted along the trail.  Red-shouldered Hawks and Barred Owls abound.  Wading birds like Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Great Blue and Little Blue Herons, as well as White Ibis can often be seen foraging beside the trail.

Bring sunscreen and insect repellent.  This trip will have a local birder-guide.

Date:  Sun., Sept. 22nd, 2002 (specify date when signing up for this trip)
Date:  Sun., Sept. 29th, 2002 (specify date when signing up for this trip)
Departure time: 7:00 a.m.
Return time:  12:00 noon
Meeting place:  Intercontinental Hotel
Number of participants (max): 12
Price:  $15 per person  (includes transportation)

Trip Name: Canoeing the Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge and Devil’s Swamp
Location: Bogue Chitto River near Sun, Louisiana

Description: A day paddle through a scenic bottomland hardwood forest is one of the best ways to get a feel for the lush wetlands of Louisiana.  The route will include what locals call a “gum pond” –a backwater filled with tupelo and cypress trees.  The trip leader is Byron Almquist, a well-known local outdoor guide, instructor, outfitter, and founder of “Canoe and Trail Adventures.”  (There will be no birding guide on this trip.)

Bring sunscreen and insect repellent.

Date:   Sunday, Sept. 22nd, 2002
Departure time: 9:00 a.m.
Return time:  4:00 p.m.
Meeting place:  Intercontinental Hotel
Number of participants: minimum 8, maximum 22
Lunch:  New Orleans style po-boy
Price:  $66.00 per person (includes transportation to and from hotel, lunch, canoe rental and guide)

Trip Name: Twilight Paddle into the Manchac Wetlands
Location: Manchac Swamp northwest of New Orleans and north of LaPlace, Louisiana

Description: Take a leisurely twilight paddle through a true swamp—a wet forest that has bayous, old lumber canals, and slender ponds lined with cypress.  After sunset, the swamp provides a variety of sights and sounds.  This is a good opportunity to see large alligators.  The trip leader is Byron Almquist, a well-known local outdoor guide, instructor, outfitter, and founder of “Canoe and Trail Adventures.”  (There will be no birding guide on this trip.)

Bring insect repellent.

Date:   Monday, Sept. 23rd, 2002
Departure time: 4:00 p.m.
Return time:  10:00 p.m.
Meeting place:  Intercontinental Hotel
Number of participants: minimum 8, maximum 22
Dinner: New Orleans style po-boy
Price:  $66.00 per person (includes transportation to and from hotel, dinner, canoe rental and guide)

Trip Name:  Owl Prowl
Location:  Greater New Orleans area

Description:    The bewitching hours of the night are the best time to encounter our nocturnal raptors.  Join local birders on a quest for the common owls of Louisiana.  Great Horned Owl, Eastern Screech-Owl, and Barred Owl are all good possibilities; Barn Owls are also possible.  Join us for the alternative “night life” of New Orleans.  It promises to be a hoot.

Bring binoculars and insect repellent.

Date:   Mon., Sept. 23
Departure time: 7:00 p.m.
Return time:  12:00 p.m.
Meeting place:  Intercontinental Hotel
Number of participants (max): 10 people
Price:   $ 15 per person (includes transportation)

Trip name: Birding the Mississippi Gulf Coast Region
Location: Mississippi Crane National Wildlife Refuge and Mississippi Gulf Coast

Description:  On a day trip to the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge learn about the intensive program to maintain this population of non-migratory Mississippi Sandhill Cranes through captive breeding and the management of habitat—the longleaf pine savanna of coastal Mississippi.  This refuge is the site of the largest and longest running crane reintroduction in the world.  The Mississippi Sandhill Cranes are one of the rarest bird populations in the United States; only 120 individuals use the refuge.  Also of conservation interest, the wet pine savanna is an endangered ecosystem--only 3-5% of it remains.  We will see crane food plots, shallow water areas, an old release site, and a crane trap.  Refuge staff will talk about crane behavior and ecology, habitat management, and predator management.  Mississippi Sandhill Cranes, Brown-headed Nuthatch, and Loggerhead Shrike are some of the birds expected on the trip.  Habitats include wet pine savanna, pine flatwoods, and cypress-tupelo depressions.  One of the birding stops, the West Jackson County Wastewater Treatment Facility, is adjacent to the refuge and managed for wildlife by refuge staff.  Local birders deem this the best birding spot on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  This area includes pasture, open water and constructed cattail marshes; and is promising for various shorebirds and waterfowl. We will take short hikes on the refuge to some of the birding areas.

Bring binoculars, sunscreen, and insect repellent.  Participants should have breakfast before departure and take money for lunch.  This trip will have a local birder-guide.

Date:  Tuesday, September 24, 2002
Departure time: 6:00 a.m.
Return time:  4:00 p.m.
Meeting place:  Intercontinental Hotel
Number of participants (max): 24
Meals:  We will stop for lunch at a restaurant in Ocean Springs.  Bring money for lunch.
Price:  $ 15.00  (includes transportation, does not include cost of lunch)

Trip Name: Endangered and Extinct (?) Woodpeckers
Locations: We will bird the Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge on the North shore of Lake Pontchartrain and then continue on to the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area in the Honey Island Swamp, St. Tammany Parish.

Description:   This day trip will explore Red-cockaded Woodpecker habitat as well as the former realm of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker.  Visit the Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge to learn all about active management for the Red-cockaded Woodpecker including prescribed burns and use of artificial “insert” nest cavities.  The efforts of refuge staff have been well rewarded: the population of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers on Big Branch appears to be increasing!  Longleaf Pine savannah is one of the most endangered habitats in the southeastern United States, mostly because this habitat requires frequent fires for maintenance and because Longleaf Pine stands have been logged and replanted in faster growing species of pine.  Other rare species that benefit from active management of the refuge include the Bachman’s Sparrow (which is difficult to see this time of year but is a possibility).

After Big Branch, we will travel to the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area in the Honey Island Swamp to explore the area where the search for the Ivory Billed Woodpecker took place.  This area is a great place to see a high density of Pileated, Red-bellied, Hairy, and Downy Woodpeckers.  This bottomland, mixed deciduous hardwood forest is a nesting ground for Wild Turkey, Swainson’s Warbler, Painted Bunting, Indigo Bunting, Northern Parula, Prothonotary Warbler, American Redstart, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Wood Thrush, Cooper’s Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, and Mississippi Kite.  The woodlands present excellent stopover habitat, so almost any seasonal migrant is possible.  The Honey Island Swamp provides some of the most scenic wetlands and bottomland jungles to be found in the southeast.

This trip involves moderate hiking.  Bring binoculars, sunscreen, and insect repellent.  Participants should have breakfast before departure.  Participants will need to purchase a valid hunting or fishing license or Wild Louisiana permit prior to entering the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area (see instructions below).  This trip will have a local birder-guide as well as a trip leader from Southeast Louisiana Refuges.

Date: Tues., Sept. 24
Departure time:  7:00 a.m.
Return time: 4:30 p.m.
Meeting place:  Intercontinental Hotel
Number of participants (max): 20
Meals:  We provide a picnic lunch.
Permits:  In order to enter the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area, you must possess a
Louisiana hunting or fishing license or a Wild Louisiana permit.  The Wild Louisiana permit is $5.00 for one year or $2.00 for one day.  You may purchase these permit with a VISA, Master Card, Debit Card or electronic check by calling 1-888-765-2602.  You may also purchase these permits on-line at the following web site:   http://www.wildlifelicense.com/index.htm (click on “Louisiana” and then on “purchase license for Louisiana”).
Price:  $25.00 per person (includes cost of transportation and lunch; does not include cost
of Wild Louisiana permit)

Description: Barrier islands are important nesting areas for many colonial seabirds: those found along coastal Louisiana host 50% or more of the U.S. population of nesting seabirds (mostly gulls and terns).  In 2001, over 14,000 Brown Pelicans nested on the Chandelier Islands while nesting Royal and Sandwich Terns exceeded 5,000.  Nesting activities will be over by late September, but we can still expect to see representatives of these species as well as colonial seabirds, White Pelicans, Black Skimmers, and Reddish Egrets. Barrier islands like Breton Island present special challenges to managers because of their susceptibility to wave action caused erosion from tropical storms and hurricanes.  Refuge staff will tell us about a new program to erect sand fencing, increase the vegetated area of Breton Island, and increase nesting habitat for Brown Pelicans.

Our trip leader is a well-known local birder, Dr. Peter Yaukey of the University of New Orleans.  Peter specializes in and teaches a course on the biogeography of birds.  At least one stop will include a short walk looking for migrant landbirds.  The Delta National Wildlife Refuge has several hotspots birds frequent during migration.  Delta is also a good place to see resident Mottled Ducks.

We will wade ashore at Breton; you may be up to your waist in water so shorts and sandals are recommended.  Bring binoculars, sunscreen, and insect repellent.  Participants should have breakfast before departure.

Date:  Mon., Sept. 23
Departure time: 7:00 a.m.
Return time:  5:00 p.m.
Meeting place:  Intercontinental Hotel
Transportation: travel to Venice by van, boat to wildlife refuges
Number of participants (max): 14
Meals:  We provide a picnic lunch.
Price: $18.00 per person (price includes a picnic lunch and transportation)

Description:  The South is well known for its spectacular gardens.  On this two-thirds of a day trip visit two of Louisiana’s finest hummingbird gardens in Covington and Abita Springs.  At this time the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are at the peak of their migration.  Expect to see hundreds of hummers!  Rufous and/or Calliope Hummingbirds are also possible.  This tour is guided by local hummingbird aficionado, Nancy Newfield.  Nancy has authored two books, Hummingbird Gardens: attracting nature’s jewels to your backyard and Hummingbirds.  She also has a long-term winter hummingbird banding project.

Why are the species and numbers of overwintering hummingbirds increasing in the south?  Nancy will reveal some tantalizing facts she has learned from banding winter hummers.  She will also band several hummingbirds during the field trip.  Learn about native plants that attract wildlife.  Other backyard birds you are likely to see include Prothonotary Warbler, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Wood Thrush, Brown Thrasher, Northern Cardinal, and Red-shouldered Hawk.  Weather depending, these gardens can be great for migrants as well. This trip does not require much walking and will be relaxing day.  Participants should have breakfast before departure.  Bring money for lunch.

Date:  Mon., Sept. 23, repeat trip on Wed., Sept. 25; (Specify the date you are requesting when registering for this trip.)
Departure time: 7:00 a.m.
Return time:  between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m.
Meeting place:  Intercontinental Hotel
Number of participants (max): 14
Meals:  We will dine at a restaurant that is a favorite among locals, the Abita Brew Pub.  It is also famous for tasty, locally brewed beer.
Price:  $10.00 per person (price includes transportation but does not include cost of lunch)

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