Locations
Red-cockaded Woodpecker © Robert Royse
Birding Locations
We guide throughout the state and can meet you anywhere. Below are Louisiana’s main birding regions along with a selection of their characteristic birds. Explore these regions and birds for inspiration on where to go and what to expect!
Shreveport - Bossier City - Monroe - Alexandria
Northern Louisiana
Home to scenic pineywoods, hardwood forests, and the Mississippi River Delta, northern Louisiana is a unique and varied region that provides excellent birding. One can listen to the ringing melody of Bachman’s Sparrows alongside the chittering of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers before venturing off into a pitcher plant bog full of beautiful and locally endemic flora. The adjacent hardwood forests hold Swainson’s and Kentucky Warblers belting powerful songs from the undergrowth. The Mississippi and Red Rivers concentrate enormous flocks of waterfowl in fall and winter. Spring migration peaks later here than on the coast and can be paired with a handful of breeding species that are nearly impossible elsewhere in Louisiana, among them Greater Roadrunner, Bell’s Vireo, Horned Lark, and Lark Sparrow. In the winter, the region is home to sought-after Central Flyway specialties like Harris’s Sparrow and Smith’s Longspur as well as some of the last remaining Eastern Bewick’s Wrens.
Range-restricted specialties: Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Bachman’s Sparrow, and Henslow’s Sparrow. Residents: Greater Roadrunner, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Northern Bobwhite, and Eastern Phoebe. Breeders: Louisiana Waterthrush, Prothonotary Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Horned Lark, Bell’s Vireo (scarce), Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Indigo Bunting, and Summer Tanager. Wintering: Bewick’s Wren, Harris’s Sparrow, LeConte’s Sparrow, Lapland Longspur, Smith’s Longspur, Short-eared Owl, American Woodcock, and Horned Grebe. Migrants: Mourning Warbler and Willow Flycatcher and especially impressive numbers of Dickcissel and Bobolink.
Pictured: Henslow’s Sparrow, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Bachman’s Sparrow, Northern Bobwhite, Bobolink, Dickcissel, Prothonotary Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush.
Lafayette - Crowley - Morgan City
Central Louisiana
If, when you think of Louisiana, crawfish and alligators come to mind, central Louisiana is the place to be. The region is split between the open fields of Acadiana, Louisiana’s rice country, and the lowland swamps of the Atchafalaya River basin. The Atchafalaya River looks like something straight out of a movie – alligators roaming black water between cypress trees draped in Spanish Moss. Prothonotary Warblers and Barred Owls breed alongside huge rookeries of waders and cormorants. The Rice Country is composed of flooded fields, seasonally full of either rice or crawfish, criss-crossed with parish roads. From these roads, you can see millions of blackbirds, tens of thousands of wintering waterfowl and waders, and Louisiana’s resident endangered Whooping Cranes. They are also a hub for migratory shorebirds, including sought after species like Hudsonian Godwit and Buff-breasted Sandpiper.
Range-restriced: Yellow Rail, Whooping Crane, LeConte’s Sparrow, Sprague’s Pipit, and Hudsonian Godwit. Breeders: Painted Bunting, Cave Swallow, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Dickcissel, King Rail, Purple Gallinule, Least Bittern, Prothonotary Warbler, and Swainson’s Warbler. Residents: Roseate Spoonbill, White-faced Ibis, Boat-tailed Grackle, Crested Caracara, and Limpkin. Migrants: White-rumped Sandpiper, Upland Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Ruff, and Philadelphia Vireo. Wintering: Gull-billed Tern, Greater White-fronted Goose, Snow Goose, Ross’s Goose, and Mottled Duck.
Pictured: Whooping Crane, LeConte’s Sparrow, Sprague’s Pipit, Hudsonian Godwit, Painted Bunting, Least Bittern, and Snow Goose.
Lake CHarles - Hackberry - Cameron
Southwestern Louisiana
Southwest Louisiana has all the joys of the upper Texas coast with only a fraction of the birding pressure. The coastal woodlots concentrate migrants in spring and fall and are famous for fallout spectacles, when almost every neotropical migrant can be seen in a single day. Between the cheniers and the Gulf of Mexico is a narrow strip of beach that supports a wide variety of shorebirds, gulls, and terns through different parts of the year. Inland, rangeland is home to an assortment of wintering sparrows and migratory shorebirds, and you may even catch a White-tailed Kite twisting in the air above them. Fresh and salt marshes provide habitat for Louisiana’s famous wading birds like Roseate Spoonbills and Wood Storks alongside rails, sparrows, and waterfowl. The edges of the marsh support secretive and poorly known Yellow Rails and the federally endangered eastern Black Rail.
Range-restricted: Yellow Rail, Black Rail, and Whooping Crane. Residents: Common Ground Dove, Mottled Duck, Seaside Sparrow, Clapper Rail, King Rail, Purple Gallinule, Roseate Spoonbill, Tricolored Heron, American Oystercatcher, Crested Caracara, Bronzed Cowbird, Great Kiskadee, and Barn Owl. Breeders: Wood Stork, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, and Wilson’s Plover. Wintering: Sandhill Crane, Snow Goose, Piping Plover, Snowy Plover, Marbled Godwit, Long-billed Curlew,Greater White-fronted Goose, Ross’s Goose, White-tailed Kite, White-tailed Hawk, LeConte’s Sparrow, and Nelson’s Sparrow. Migrants: Upland Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Black-billed Cuckoo, Veery, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Alder Flycatcher, Philadelphia Vireo, Mourning Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, and Swainson’s Hawk.
Pictured: Seaside Sparrow, Clapper Rail, Piping Plover, Long-billed Curlew, Nelson’s Sparrow, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Philadelphia Vireo.
Baton Rouge - New Orleans - Houma - Hammond
Southeastern Louisiana
“Laissez bon temps rouler!” is the motto of eastern Louisiana, Cajun French for “Let the good times roll!” This doesn’t just refer to the food and music scene – the spectacular birding of the region epitomizes the phrase. Grand Isle is famous for its tremendous spring migration, where any and every neotropic migrant crossing the Gulf of Mexico stops to take in the bayou scenery (and perhaps enjoy a drive-through daiquiri.) The region features expansive fresh and salt marshes, home to a wide selection of waders like Roseate Spoonbills and Limpkins. Further north within the region, pine flatwoods harbor Bachman’s Sparrows and endangered Red-cockaded Woodpeckers while adjacent uplands hold the full suite of southeastern breeding birds. In the fall, the levee of Lake Pontchartrain one of only a few sites in the south with morning flight, sometimes involving a stream of thousands of migrating passerines. The region also harbors a fascinating group of overwintering western birds and neotropic migrants, from Groove-billed Anis to Myiarchus flycatchers to Prairie Warblers.
Range-restricted Specialties: Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Bachman’s Sparrow, Henslow’s Sparrow, Monk Parakeet **, and Scaly-breasted Munia** Residents: Wild Turkey, Northern Bobwhite, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Limpkin, King Rail, Clapper Rail, Seaside Sparrow, Roseate Spoonbill, Black Skimmer, Reddish Egret, Tricolored Heron, Brown Booby, Bronzed Cowbird. Breeders: Prothonotary Warbler, Swainson’s Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Painted Bunting, Summer Tanager, Purple Gallinule, Wilson’s Plover, Least Tern, Gull-billed Tern, and Sooty Tern. Migrants: Cerulean Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler, Black-billed Cuckoo, Blackburnian Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Bobolink. Wintering: Groove-billed Ani, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Vermilion Flycatcher, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Nelson’s Sparrow, Snowy Plover, and Piping Plover.
Pictured: Blackburnian Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Cerulean Warbler