We’ve begun riding four to five days a week around Oak Grove and Creole and it’s been well worth the effort. We ride seven miles east out towards Grand Chenier, turning north just before the Mermentau River Bridge. We’ve got about a mile of east/northeast before turning north on Pumpkin Ridge Rd (a hurricane evacuation route for those between Oak Grove and Pecan Island).
After three miles north on Pumpkin Ridge Rd. we ride due west on Chenier Perdue/East Creole Hwy to Creole, where we head south for two miles, then east for the final mile home. The round trip is about twenty-two miles.
The winds have been quite strong for the last several weeks, and since we are doing a loop, we’ve got strong headwinds for two of the four sides of our “rectangle” route. It’s been a serious strength-building process, riding into 25 mph winds. We arrive home plenty tired, but those endorphins pumping through our systems last most of the day.
Even better is that there’s very light traffic on Hwy 82, and virtually none on Pumpkin Ridge Rd and Chenier Perdue. The only bad stretch is the two miles south from Creole to Hwy 82 – big trucks (not too many, though) no shoulder, and fierce headwinds.
What we love the most is how beautiful the area is, and how many birds there are to see. We’re in the annual migratory season, plus it’s spring and the birds are nesting, so we see an incredible variety of birds, most in their breeding plumage. Jo Ann has an astonishing library of bird books, so we come home every day after our rides and look up what we saw that day.
Jo Ann finally told us to start bringing her Audubon Field Guide with us, so now we do. What should only take about an hour and a half takes us almost two and a half hours because we stop so often when we see a great sighting. That means we stop sometimes every 30 feet!
Along Hwy 82 are canals next to the road, with a few trees and lots of low brush and marsh grasses. Tucked in here we see kingfishers, boat tailed grackle, green herons, egrets, red-winged blackbirds, yellow-crowned night herons, and the occasional alligator.
The marsh beyond the canals stretches out to the south as far as the eye can see, out to the Gulf. Out in the marsh are blue herons, tri-color herons, mottled ducks, Mexican Squealers (ducks), teal ducks, roseate spoonbills, great egrets, more blackbirds, and others we can’t yet identify. We saw avocets several times; we are very excited to have identified them (Donny was the one who finally solved it).
One morning we saw at least a hundred birds all together in one spot, not too far off the road, back in the marsh. We dropped our bikes by the road and tiptoed quietly though the brush, trying to sneak up close enough to take photographs without scaring them.
We didn’t get photos that were worth anything, but we sure had fun with the binoculars, checking out the birds. We saw primarily great egrets and roseate spoonbills, with a healthy sprinkling of ducks, stilts, and black ibis, along with other wading birds, and one huge white pelican.
Another morning we saw a kingfisher catch a fish, flying along next to us for a ways with his catch, and we spotted a little green heron nest, with both parents doing their best to distract us. Cormorants and boat tail grackles are everywhere.
At the Mermentau River Bridge we see all kind of shorebirds, many of which we haven’t identified yet. We see brown pelicans, an occasional white pelican, flocks of really big great egrets, stilts, lesser yellowlegs, some ducks, blue herons, and an occasional roseate spoonbill.
The Mermentau River empties out into the Gulf, and the section we ride has the bridge that opens for the trawlers and sailboats. We’ve seen the bridges around south Louisiana that swivel open; we’ve been told how they work, swiveling on a huge turntable, but we’ve never seen one in process.
Last week we had the good luck to see a big shrimping boat ready to go through the bridge, so we got to watch the whole process of the bridge swiveling open and the shrimp boat passing though. Chelsea’s favorite part was the sizable flock of seagulls that followed the boat in from the Gulf, flapping and screeching around the masts.
Along Mermentau River Rd. are two spots where great egrets roost, and they’re still there in the mornings when we go by. There are dozens and dozens of them – it’s an awesome sight. A bit farther on – at a spot on a bridge where we take our first break – are marsh birds – clapper rails, stilts, and lesser yellowlegs.
Pumpkin Ridge Rd. and Chenier Perdue run through marshland, with cattle grazing in several areas. It’s a paradise for bird watchers at this time of year. We see great egrets, killdeer, mottled ducks, teal ducks, Mexican Squealers, blue herons, roseate spoonbills, yellow-crowned night herons, green herons, tri-color herons, glossy ibis, and broad faced mallard ducks.
We’ve seen several yellow-crowned night heron nests, and two little green heron nests. We’ve seen cedar waxwings, and we had a meadowlark pose on a telephone wire right above us. We regularly see bee catchers, barn swallows, purple martins, and shrike.
One day in a spot just before a small bridge, all lined up in a thirty-foot section at the edge of the water, we saw a yellow-crowned night heron, a roseate spoonbill, two mottled ducks, a huge great egret, two stilts, a tri-colored heron, and a cormorant. Each one of them was lined up next to the other, a few feet apart, looking just like a tableau.
Another morning, after a series of really big storms, the ground was still pooling water and the water level in the canals and the marsh was still high. Up near where Pumpkin Ridge Rd. reaches Chenier Perdue was large herd of cattle, grazing off to our right, watching us intently.
Somehow they got spooked, and started running for distant pastures. The water was so high they had to splash through deep puddles, with the splashes reaching as high as their backs. It was quite a sight, watching a whole herd silhouetted against the sun as they ran into the sunrise, with the high splashing water sparkling clear and gold around the cattle.
One old Brahmin bull took it all with a much more relaxed approach, but when he realized the entire herd had gone, he finally started trotting slowly after them.
Another morning, along Chenier Perdue, we had a herd of cattle that started trotting faster and faster, but they were trotting level with us, heading in our direction. We realized they thought we were going to feed them, and when we simply rode by, they finally stopped, all packed together, and stared at us riding by. It was too funny watching all those expectant faces looking so hopefully at us.
The section from Creole back to Hwy 82 is the least populated with birds – we see mostly terns, cormorants, and great egrets. That section has cattle grazing across the canal, and one day we saw two guard donkeys standing on a little rise of land, staring at us.
When we first saw the donkeys they were side-by-side facing different directions, and it looked for all the world like a two-headed animal watching us. They were so curious though, that they couldn’t resist turning all the way around to see us as we got closer. Chelsea got a great photo of the two of them watching us intently.
After we turn west again for the final mile, there’s a short side road that loops off Hwy 82 for only a half mile, then back on to Hwy 82. It’s very quiet, with only a few camps and only one full time resident. Huge oak trees and low brush fill the north side of the road. It’s a known birding area (we’re not sure why it is).
We stop there every day, just in case there’s a new find waiting for us. We saw three indigo buntings one afternoon with Jo Ann. Another morning on our way out Chelsea spotted a raccoon climbing a tree, and the same day on our way back we saw summer tanagers, the yellow female and the bright red male.
We just can’t believe our luck, being able to be in this area now. The weather has been incredibly pleasant except for the strong winds; we love the low traffic and great scenery; and the birding is just unbelievable. We have dreamed of riding conditions like this, and now it’s come true!
Birding trips with Donny
Not only have we had our own birding trips with our bike rides, we’ve also got Jo Ann who is always on the lookout for good bird spots when we are with her. We check out fields as we drive with her, and she’ll stop immediately (even to the point of turning around and going back, or pulling off the road) if we see something particularly good.
Then we’ve got Donny, who has taken us out in his truck to hunt down good spots. So far we’ve had four separate trips with him, and we’ve got another big one planned. He’s been systematically taking us around the area.
What we like so much about going with Donny is that he drives slowly enough for us to see something, and the minute it looks like there’s something good to see, he stops. He’ll stop so we can get out to get a better look, and he’ll roll backwards and forwards slowly to get a better look at something elusive. I sit in back since Chelsea takes the photos, but the back windows are tinted and I have limited viewing space. He just laughs good-naturedly when I practically crawl over him to see a particular bird.
He’s got a set of binoculars that he lets us use, so both Chelsea and I have a pair when we’re with him. He’s really knowledgeable and fills in a lot of blanks for us. Best of all, he’s quiet calm company, and we converse easily. He enjoys the birding – and he likes the fact that we enjoy it so much.
So far we’ve seen Little Chenier and Chenier Perdue, and we’ve driven along the Mermentau River Rd; we’ve walked on Rutherford Beach; we saw the Pintail Wildlife Drive near the Cameron Prairie Wildlife Refuge; and we’ve cruised all the back roads in Grand Chenier.
Our upcoming trip is to Cameron, across the Calcasieu (cal-ka-shoe) River; Holly Beach, followed by the Sabine (suh-bean) National Wildlife Refuge up on Hwy 27, with two wetland walkways into the marsh; the Peveto (pee-vee’-toe) Woods Bird and Butterfly Sanctuary; Johnson’s Bayou; and then on to Pleasure Island at the Texas/Louisiana border.
We still have to see the Cameron Prairie Wildlife Refuge up beyond Creole, too. This is all a dream come true for us!
Oak Grove, Louisiana