Louisiana Master Naturalists of Greater New Orleans

24th Annual BirdFest – April 3-6, 2020!

The 24th Annual Great Louisiana BirdFest, will be held April 2-6, 2020 with Pre-BirdFest events starting March 14, 2020 and a Post-BirdFest event during Fall Migration. For the past 23 years, the Northlake Nature Center has sponsored the Great Louisiana BirdFest during the spring migration. This is the time when numerous migrant bird species come from Mexico and South America across the Gulf of Mexico and pass through south Louisiana on their way to their summer territories.

Birders travel from all corners of the U.S. and from other countries to participate because our area is a prime bird watching location and the Great Louisiana BirdFest is considered one of the premier birding events in the country. Join us and enjoy what people travel long distances to see, this wonderful environment of Southeast Louisiana that is in our own backyard. Expert birdwatchers as well as novices are welcome to attend one or more of the available birding trips via foot, pontoon boat, or paddled canoes, the social, and/or the photography workshop.

New this year, we will offer two Sunset Eagles Nest Boat Tours with Captain Billy’s Cajun Man’s Swamp Tours and Adventures to tour the Atchafalaya Basin’s 10 Eagle nests and their families- one for photographers in a Pre-BirdFest event and one for birders during BirdFest! Also new, we have added a Pre-BirdFest event- Introduction to Birding, Binoculars and Bird Guides with Jane Patterson, President of Baton Rouge Audubon Society to get new birders acclimated to birding early!

Bringing back the ever-popular Pre-BirdFest event, we will visit a private property to indulge in an afternoon Backyard Garden Tea and Optional Paddle as we bird through a mini Bellingrath Garden of azaleas! The estate sits on Bayou Lacombe and features a trail network blazed through mature multiple varieties of azaleas. Woodland and water birds are residents here and you will likely see early migrants and nesting birds as well. Optional canoes are available to paddle the bayou.

We have added a Rookery birding trip at the private rookery known as “Bird Island” at Joseph M. Bartholomew Golf Course which is managed and maintained by the City of New Orleans Department of Parks and Parkways.

BirdFest returns to the ever-popular Joyce Wildlife Management Area/ Manchac Swamp where we start by looking for songbirds at the edge of the Wildlife Management Area followed by a pontoon boat birding trip into the swamp. We also continue to offer the unique Big Branch by Night in the Big Branch National Wildlife Refuge with its endangered Red-cockaded Woodpeckers and night creatures. Additional, we will revisit Bogue Chitto River Reserve Habitats trip typically has sightings of a large number of species. The 1,786-acre site includes small steams, cypress tupelo swamps, a hardwood forest, upland forests and a rolling landscape. Also on the schedule is the illustrious Honey Island Swamp, one of the best birding hotspots on the Northshore, particularly during migration. Containing mixed hardwoods and much swamp habitat, the area is within the Mississippi flyway and is bounded by the West and East Pearl River, making it a particularly good migratory route because birds tend to follow these north/south running rivers as they migrate to their summer homes.

We conclude or weekend of birding with a BirdFest Social. While it truly is a social with Northlake Nature Center volunteers digging into their personal family recipes to create a sampling of Louisiana delicacies, it will be a great birdwatching event as well as the view of sunset from the cabins overlooking Lake Ponchartrain! A tasty meal with great birding! A truly special treat for all to enjoy.

Also added last year and continuing, we will offer our Sunset Manchac Swamp pontoon boat trip in the Fall.

Visit www.northlakenature.org/birdfest for information, descriptions of the birding sites, and to register for BirdFest events. Advance registration required.