Mandalay National Wildlife Refuge

My friend Allison and I had a great opportunity in Louisiana - to ride along with the Refuge Manager of Mandalay National Wildlife Refuge as he went about a few errands he had to run.  It's an amazing little refuge, right in Houma, Louisiana with more birds, alligators, and plants than you can see in a day!  Plus we had the chance to see it with someone who could answer all of our questions about the plants, birds, and ecology of the area (and we had lots of them).

The ride involved an airboat, and I wasn't sure at first what to think, but now...  I'm sold!  I love airboats!  Not the greatest for seeing wildlife (it's really hard to sneak up on anything), but a great way to get around and see some country that you couldn't see on foot.  Even though the water's pretty shallow in most places, the bottom is mostly unconsolidated organics and your hat would be floating if you tried to take a walk. 

Coastal Louisiana has three types of marshes: freshwater, brackish, and salt water.  This was a freshwater marsh, I'd love to go see the others someday. 

We headed through saw grass, marsh mallows, sedges, and scirpus. Beneath wax myrtles, tupelos, and cypress trees, and over water celery, lilies, and lotus.  The lilies and lotus were amazing.  We passed through two lakes that were each nearly 3/4 full of American lotus, and they were in bloom!  One thing you can't get from the picture is the smell... as soon as the boat came close, the air was thick with the sweet smell of lotus blossoms!  They're big blooms (~6" across), each with lots of acorn-sized edible seeds (imagine a sunflower with really really big seeds).

  

Other lakes and ponds were full of yellow lilies.  I don't have a great picture of them in bloom, but trust me, they were pretty!  They're also great for wildlife habitat, since they have big, edible tubers.  So I love the lilies and lotus because they're pretty, they smell great, and they're great wildlife habitat.  But also, they help keep out invasive aquatic plants.  Giant salvinia and water hyacinth are two invasives moving into a lot of freshwater marshes.  These thick stands of lotus and lilies act like barriers, blocking them out. 

Scirpus californicus with...

dragonflies

and least bitterns!  can you see him?  There was a pair, only about 10 feet away!

The least bitterns were a highlight, but we saw tons of other birds, too.  Great blue herons, little blue herons, green herons, snowy egrets, common moore hens, purple galinules, and anhingas.

Coastal Louisiana is truly a beautiful place.