Down on the Bayou

Post date: Apr 22, 2013 12:43:04 AM

We're all settled into our first field site for the season: the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) in Cocodrie, Louisiana. Despite looking like an airport, it's actually pretty cozy. "Cocodrie" is Cajun for "alligator", but we've yet to see any reptiles (although the dolphins are exciting enough).

LUMCON: our field house in Louisiana

The official (but still nameless) pelican team boat

An exhibitionist Clapper Rail

We're still waiting for our satellite tags to arrive; in the meantime, we have a chance to get acquainted with the pelican colonies of Terrebonne Bay thanks to Scott Walter. Scott, a post-doc at Tulane who has been working with pelicans in this area for seven years, knows the best routes through the bayou and is instructing us in pelican-catching techniques. Yesterday we went out with him and his team for a visit to Raccoon Island.

Raccoon is part of the Iles Dernieres, which are the outermost islands in Terrebonne Bay, and it's packed with pelicans, terns, laughing gulls, and waders. Subsidence and land loss are major concerns in this area, so Raccoon has been selected for habitat reclamation and is being buffered by a still-in-progress levee.

Nesting pelicans, with the new levee in the background

Some other residents of Raccoon Island

We followed Scott and his team on their monitoring rounds, getting a sense of where we might catch pelicans and enjoying the feeling of being out on a seabird colony again. Unlike the Texas and Florida colonies, Raccoon Island feels truly remote-- Elizabeth calculated that the boat trip there and back (including a detour to a nearby island) took over sixty miles.

Yvan and Elizabeth taking a windy walk around the island

Aside from work, we took in the local culture today at the Folk Art Festival in Chauvin. There was food and music, and all the neighborhood boats dressed up for a Blessing of the Fleet.

Off to receive a blessing

Music at the festival

That's all the news from the bayou. Hopefully by next time you hear from me we'll have tagged our first pelican!

Sunset at LUMCON (taken by Yvan)