Yesterday I had the opportunity to spend the day on a shrimping boat in Lake Borgne. Thank you Captain George!
When well away from shore, the shrimper primarily attracted Laughing Gulls, and Royal and Forster's Terns. And dolphins- a pod of a dozen or so shadowed us for nearly two hours. We were in Lake Borgne, about 15 miles north of Shell Beach and just a couple miles west of the marshes of the Biloxi Wildlife Management Area.
The greatest avian diversity was in Shell Beach and the adjacent marshes. Willets flew about issuing their strident cries and displaying their shocking black-and-white wing patterns. Common Nighthawks peented and chased each other about. Seaside Sparrows flew in short forays just over the tips of the marsh grasses, and Red-winged Blackbirds tee'd up to show off for their rivals. In the scrub along the spoil banks, Orchard Orioles sang their animated songs, Great Crested Flycatchers called reep, and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo gave a long series of oo notes. It is always interesting to me to see the later two out in the marsh scrub, since they inhabit much talller trees in most of their other haunts.
Peter
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