January 6, 2015 ~ Fontainebleau State Park, LA to Long Beach, MS
After showering and dressing warmly (and thanks to Andree, I have just the right warm clothes tucked in nooks and crannies in the van), I walked a mile to the public area on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. Bluejays and Red-headed Woodpeckers were poking around empty campsites and grills.
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| Fontainebleau State Park - LA |
Spanish moss hung from the grand live oaks. I could just barely see the high-rises of New Orleans across the lake, and the busy Causeway (actually two parallel bridges), the longest in the world over continuous water at nearly 24 miles, supported by 9500 concrete pilings. [Wikipedia]
I had donuts and coffee on my mind...with a plan to return to Big Branch Marsh, enjoying them while waiting for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers to show. I needed gas so went into convenience store at the station. They had no donuts but there was something from Randazzo's Camellia City Bakery that looked like a good substitute which I bought. It had colored sprinkles on top of thick white frosting on a round sweet bun. It was called a "king cake" which meant nothing to me until five minutes later while listening to NO radio station and heard, "Today is the first legal day to eat king cakes." From the web site on the packaging:
WWW.KINGCAKES.COM
There was a tiny naked plastic baby stuck in the frosting. It was totally zu-zu delicious (the pastry...not the baby). And the coffee was the best coffee I've had in months...rich, not bitter, maybe a faint hint of chocolate...
Even though it was chilly, there was no wind and the sun kept me warm while I hung out in the parking area by the white-ringed trees for an hour, seeing a Red-bellied Sapsucker and a Pileated Woodpecker but no Red-cockaded WPs. There was very little bird activity but a lot of peacefulness. A car with Illinois license plates was in the lot with a "Bird Nerd" bumper sticker.
Bayou Sauvage NWR was close and is the largest urban refuge, located within the city of New Orleans. I hadn't planned to go there, wising to avoid heavy traffic, but after researching roads and options, I realized it might not be congested, and it wasn't. While it is in the city limits, this fact is not at all obvious and consists of 23,000 acres of "fresh and brackish marshes," heavily affected and now recovering from Hurricane Katrina. It was actually pleasant driving through on highways with almost no traffic and pulling off in the few areas with short boardwalks. Go figure.... a very serene place in the city of NO on the opening day of Carnaval.
There were houses on stilts at the water's edge as I drove north out of the refuge, but it was mostly marsh with grebes, herons, ducks, stilts, sandpipers, pelicans, a few American Avocets, ospreys, Northern Harriers....all the birds I've been seeing for days, feeding, foraging, flying in bright sunshine under a clear blue sky. The alligators must all be denned up. So far I've not seen one.
I crossed into Mississippi on a four-lane highway and soon came to Long Beach, with gorgeous sugar-sand beaches on my right and lovely spacious homes and deep lawns on the left. The Walmart on the west end of town had a view of the Gulf as did the restaurant I found. I ordered a simple pasta with a Cajun sauce and crawfish tails and a small green salad. Good enough....
I had donuts and coffee on my mind...with a plan to return to Big Branch Marsh, enjoying them while waiting for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers to show. I needed gas so went into convenience store at the station. They had no donuts but there was something from Randazzo's Camellia City Bakery that looked like a good substitute which I bought. It had colored sprinkles on top of thick white frosting on a round sweet bun. It was called a "king cake" which meant nothing to me until five minutes later while listening to NO radio station and heard, "Today is the first legal day to eat king cakes." From the web site on the packaging:
WWW.KINGCAKES.COM
The Mardi Gras or Carnival season officially begins on January 6th or Twelfth Night - also known to Christians as the "epiphany." Epiphany comes from a Greek word that means "to show." Bethlehem is where infant Jesus first showed himself to the world. As a symbol of this holy day, a tiny plastic baby is placed inside each King Cake. the King Cake tradition is thought to have been brought to New Orleans from France in 1870.
A King Cake is an oval-shaped bakery delicacy - a cross between a coffee cake and a french pastry that is rich in history as it is in flavor: It's decorated in royal colors or Purple which signifies Justice, Green for Faith, and Gold for Power: These colors were chosen to represent a jeweled crown honoring the wise men who brought gifts to the Christ Child on the Feast of Epiphany. In the past such things as coins, beans, pecans, or peas were hidden inside each King Cake. Today a tiny plastic baby is the common prize. At a party, the King Cake is sliced and served. Each person looks to see if their piece contains the baby. if so, then that person is named "King for a day" and bound by custom to host the next party and provide the King Cake.
There was a tiny naked plastic baby stuck in the frosting. It was totally zu-zu delicious (the pastry...not the baby). And the coffee was the best coffee I've had in months...rich, not bitter, maybe a faint hint of chocolate...
Even though it was chilly, there was no wind and the sun kept me warm while I hung out in the parking area by the white-ringed trees for an hour, seeing a Red-bellied Sapsucker and a Pileated Woodpecker but no Red-cockaded WPs. There was very little bird activity but a lot of peacefulness. A car with Illinois license plates was in the lot with a "Bird Nerd" bumper sticker.
Bayou Sauvage NWR was close and is the largest urban refuge, located within the city of New Orleans. I hadn't planned to go there, wising to avoid heavy traffic, but after researching roads and options, I realized it might not be congested, and it wasn't. While it is in the city limits, this fact is not at all obvious and consists of 23,000 acres of "fresh and brackish marshes," heavily affected and now recovering from Hurricane Katrina. It was actually pleasant driving through on highways with almost no traffic and pulling off in the few areas with short boardwalks. Go figure.... a very serene place in the city of NO on the opening day of Carnaval.
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| Snowy Egret at Bayou Sauvage NWR - LA |
There were houses on stilts at the water's edge as I drove north out of the refuge, but it was mostly marsh with grebes, herons, ducks, stilts, sandpipers, pelicans, a few American Avocets, ospreys, Northern Harriers....all the birds I've been seeing for days, feeding, foraging, flying in bright sunshine under a clear blue sky. The alligators must all be denned up. So far I've not seen one.
I crossed into Mississippi on a four-lane highway and soon came to Long Beach, with gorgeous sugar-sand beaches on my right and lovely spacious homes and deep lawns on the left. The Walmart on the west end of town had a view of the Gulf as did the restaurant I found. I ordered a simple pasta with a Cajun sauce and crawfish tails and a small green salad. Good enough....
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| Tricolored Heron - Bayou Sauvage NWR - LA |
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