Well, our long awaited trip to the Mississippi Flyway, starting in New Orleans has begun. Marian and I caught a Delta flight from Seatac, with a brief stop in Atlanta, a minor delay at Atlanta, so not getting to bed until about 1 PM Saturday morning. I tried to fill in a gray state on my eBird profile from the gate window in Atlanta, but nary a feathered creature to list.

After a short but good sleep at th Intercontinental Hotel in downtown New Orleans, we got a not as early as planned start Saturday, heading to Bayou Savage NWR, and beginning on the Ridge Trail boardwalk. Beginning at 8:52 AM the boardwalk was disappointingly slow, and we managed only 22 species in 80 minutes with essentially no migrants and few passerines to be found. It was a beautiful walk though, and a good look at a Swamp Sparrow, hearing a Fish Crow, and hearing several Clapper Rails was cool.

Marian took a break, as it was getting hot and I went across routh 90 to the Recovery One Road area. Here was more active, though I missed Barn Owls when the young woman coming out told me she had flushed three from the abandoned structure there. It was cool to spot a Sora as I chatted with her and get her on it with a scope, and hearing my first White-eyed Vireos was nice.

We drove around to the north of Lake Pontchartrain on Hwy 11, with a stop along the road to see a few waders and swallows, and then went to the pine forest area north of the lake.
At Big Branch Marsh NWR- Boy Scout Road boardwalk Red-headed Woodpeckers seemed all over the place. It took me a while to see one, but after finding the first one we saw a few more. We also got good looks at Brown-headed Nuthatch, and heard several Pine Warblers, but no Red-cockaded Woodpecker to be found by us in the afternoon. Another pretty place, and calling King and Clapper Rails was cool.
After a shower, we spent the late afternoon and early evening in the French Quarter, and Bourbon Street is pretty wild. The wardrobe of the day for most it seemed was a balloon wrapped to look like a penis that most of the young and many of the not-so-young women wore as a head ornament. The bands were good in a couple places we went, and we had a really nice dinner with curbside seating and excellent Mexican food.
Sleep felt good last night and we got up early this morning and headed for City Park Couturie Forest area. It is a specacular city park, with many trials, a nice wooded area, and seemed like it should have held any passing through migrants, but it was overall pretty quiet except for the Northern Cardinals, Carolina Wrens, Brown Thrashers, Blue Jays, Great-crested Flycatchers and both grackles who kept me guessing most of the stop. Highlights were great looks at Brown Thrasher, Carolina Wren, both night herons flying by, hearing lots of Fish Crows, and just the beautiful area. Again, migrants have been tough to come by so far this trip.
After this we took a break from birding to visit a couple of cemeteries. New Orleans if famous for its above ground cemeteries, due to the high water table in the partly below sea level city. They were cool, and Eastern Bluebird and House Finch were added to our Louisiana life list there.
After this break, we decided not to visit the Confederate Civil War Museum, and headed back to Bayou Savage, this time to South Point. I didn’t realize it was a 2+ mile hike one way, and we were pretty hot and weary after the hike, but the birding was IMO the best yet on the trip. Both black ibis species were seen, along with great looks at Great-crested Flycatcher, Orhard Oriole, Eastern Kingbird, and a really cool long look at a pair of Purple Gallinules. Brown Pelicans, and a variety of common but first of the trip species were added too.
We have decided to head south tomorrow on our get-out-of-town day, leaving early to go to Grand Isle in hopes of a good migrant showing. The forecast is for a big flight tonight, and there are some areas open, so I’m hoping the 2 hours in the wrong direction on our Great River Road adventure pays off.