$30 (New Trip)

This new trip will visit a 270 acre preserve on the banks of the Ponchatoula River. This area, the first high ground up-river from Lake Maurepas, was the landing site for explorers in the 1700 and 1800’s. This site was occupied by Belgian Benedictine monks in 1882.

Much of the land in this area is cypress/tupelo swamp but there is an island within the swamp. This island, surrounded by many alligators and snakes, which protected it from “Revenuers” from Northern states, became the site of a very successful Prohibition-era bootlegging operation from 1918 to 1930 (hence the name Whiskey Island). It’s proximity to the river and then to the Gulf of Mexico provided easy shipment of whiskey throughout the region and up the east coast of the United States.

In more recent times, the property has changed hands twice. In 1968, the property was purchased for private hunting preserve. At that time, a 2 1/2 mile, 14-foot high flood protection levee was built encircling the property. While this levee primarily separates the high ground from the swamp, it also runs through portions of some of the swamp. This ring levee provides access to habitat that would otherwise be very difficult to reach.

In 2004, the property was purchased to develop as home sites. What separates this development from most is that much of the land is protected through conservation easements (servitudes). In 2009 and 2010, the current owners worked with the Land Trust for Southeast Louisiana to place easements on 4 separate areas totaling approximately 200 acres. The areas include scenic cypress / tupelo gum swamps, live oak woodlands, and open grassy areas along roads and a small pond. All are accessible along roads and levees and provide a variety of habitats for a diversity of birds.

The high-quality cypress / tupelo gum swamps make this an important part of the Audubon Society’s West Pontchartrain-Maurepas Swamp Important Bird Area, a key nesting area for Prothonotary Warblers, Northern Parulas, and Yellow-throated Warblers.

The varied habitat also makes this area home for quite a few deer, turkey, and alligators.

Easy walk

Birds most likely to be seen:

Wintering Birds: Bald Eagle,

Residents and Breeding Birds: Great Blue, Tricolored, Yellow-crowned Night, Black-crowned Night, Green, and Little Blue Herons; Great and Snowy Egrets; White Ibis, Wood Duck, Wild Turkey, Great-horned and Barred Owl; Pileated, Red-bellied, and Downy Woodpecker; Great-crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Fish Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Purple Martin, Tree Swallow, Blue Gray Gnatcatcher, Northern Parula, Yellow-throated-, Pine-, and Prothonotary- Warblers; Boat-tailed Grackle, and more.

Possible Migrants: Osprey, raptors, warblers, tanagers, orioles and buntings.