Friday April 15 – 6:15 AM to 10:00 AM                        $45   (includes brunch)

Last year, the Great Louisiana BirdFest held a “Backyard Gardens” trip to this location.  The guides insisted that we return this year.  Their reason is that, even though there are many butterfly and bird attracting plants, birdfeeders and birdhouses, plus multiple bird baths around the house – enough that you could simply sit on the porch and bird in comfort – there is so much more and the backyard features are simply lagniappe.

Located just west of the Town of Ponchatoula, this property overlooks a large pond, known by the property owners that border it as “Cypress Lake.” The pond has both mowed and treed borders.  There are cypress trees in the pond that are frequent roosting spots for birds.  Walking around the pond the habitat changes from open area to denser natural shrubbery and then to a berm between the pond and a river.  And, at one end of the pond, the land drops into a bottomland swamp area with many warblers.

With so much water, varied habitat, and nesting and food sources, the property attracts quite a variety of birds.  In fact, the trip will start earlier this year because there were so many birds active last year as birders and guides were assembling that many people, including the guides, were drawn as if by a huge magnet and bypassed stopping to check in.

Please consider bringing a chair so that it is easier to sit quietly as you bird at the end of the pond that provides excellent warbler habitat.  If you do not have one, we will have a small number of chairs that you can borrow.

For photographs of what you might see, take a look at the Facebook page at http://goo.gl/EKsxeC.  

We are taking advantage of being at the home of a bird lover and will be using her kitchen to be able to conclude the trip with a brunch while you continue to enjoy the birds around the house.

51 Species seen last year:

• Anhinga

• Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolor Heron

• Wood Duck, Black-bellied Whistling Duck

• Black Vulture

• Red Shouldered Hawk

• Killdeer

• Mourning Dove

• Barred Owl

• Chimney Swift

• Ruby-throated Hummingbird

• Belted Kingfisher

• Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downey Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker

• Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird

• White-eyed Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo

• Blue Jay, American Crow, Fish Crow

• Purple Martin

• Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse

• Carolina Wren

• Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Glue-gray Gnatcatcher

• Eastern Bluebird

• Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher

• European Starling

• Cedar Waxwing

• Northern Parula, Yellow-rumped “Myrtle” Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler

• Northern Cardinal, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting

• White-throated Sparrow

• Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Orchard Oriole

• House Finch, House Sparrow