Explore some mystical cypress swamps, river bottoms, wetlands, and pine forests will reward even the casual visitor with glimpses of brilliant yellow Prothonotary Warblers, fascinating Pileated Woodpeckers, beautiful Roseate Spoonbills, and spectacular flocks of waterfowl and shorebirds that can number in the thousands.

Northeastern Louisiana is a region of rich natural resources and was once part of a center of plant domestication thousands of years ago, before European colonization. This agricultural heritage lives on, built upon the rich and productive soils of the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. The region’s agriculture, aquaculture, and forestry generate nearly $2 billion in annual revenues.

Despite the substantial conversion of natural bottomland forest habitat to agriculture and silviculture, excellent birding opportunities remain. Many state and federal lands are managed for wildlife, including the threatened Louisiana black bears and declining forest songbirds, such as Kentucky Warblers and Wood Thrushes. Many regional specialties can still be found in abundance. Even birding along back roads through pastures, shrublands, and aquaculture impoundments can produce a great diversity of birds in a relatively small area, from Painted and Indigo Buntings to Pectoral and Upland Sandpipers to Wood Storks and White-faced Ibis. In addition, upland regions provide opportunities to see piney woods specialists like Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, Brown-headed Nuthatches, and Henslow’s Sparrows.

Find out more resources here.