Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge

Doug Hunt, the volunteer coordinator at Mississippi Sandhill Crane NWR, took all of the volunteers on a field trip today to Big Branch Marsh NWR in Lacombe, LA.

It took us an hour and a half to drive to this refuge.  This is the Visitor’s Center for the eight National Wildlife Refuges in Southeast Louisiana.  It used to be a church, so it was interesting to see how it has been transformed into a visitor’s center. 

The surrounding grounds were once formal gardens, and quite a few camellia trees/bushes were in bloom.  The gardens have suffered from the unusually cold winter this year.  The refuge is located on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.  Across the lake is New Orleans.

I had to check out the sites for the RV volunteers at this refuge.  I always try to think ahead and look at possible future places to volunteer.  :)  There are five sites with an outdoor cooking/eating area, and a building housing the laundry facilities.  I believe each site had a concrete patio area in addition to the very level graveled parking area.

Since Doug used to work at this refuge, he was very familiar with it and took us on a driving tour of Lacombe and the refuge.  There were plenty of snowy and great egrets along the marsh drive.

At one point, we were even treated to the antics of a hunting and feeding river otter.  We just happened to be in the right spot at the right time.

This flock of scaups paddled their way away from us as we slowed down.

The highlight of the day for several of us was the spotting of an endangered red-cockaded woodpecker.  This is the only woodpecker in North America that builds it’s nest in a cavity of a live, rather than dead, tree.  They are a very interesting species, and I was happy to again see one.  I could do a whole post on the uniqueness of this species, but will refrain from going there tonight.  :)

 

We stopped at a local restaurant that Doug knew about for lunch, and I continued my comparison study of shrimp po-boys.  :)  I have to say, that this was the best one yet!  Sweet potato fries seem to be a popular side here, and I think next time I’ll order that as regular French fries in the area are less than memorable.  After that, it was time to make the long trek back to MS.

 

The sun came out in the afternoon, but temps tonight will be back into the 20’s, so I’ll be letting the faucet run again when I hit the hay.  Not sure what tomorrow will bring.

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy