The St. Bernard Bird Festival will be held on Friday, May 5th and Saturday, May 6th from 9am - 4pm at the Los Islenos Museum Complex, located at 1357 Bayou Road, St. Bernard, LA 70085.
Dr. Erik Johnson PhD, from Audubon Louisiana will lead a group of specialists capturing and banding birds daily. Many of these birds will be neotropical migrants flying back to North America from their winter vacation in Central and South America. These birds are known for their beautiful coloring and are a “must see” for every nature lover.
Glenn Ousset, who has worldwide birding experience will be the chief guide for all birding tours. During last year’s Bird Festival, Glenn had a first ever St. Bernard spotting of the Limpkin. The Limpkin eats apple snails, which are an alien and invasive species that devastates vegetation in our drainage canals and wetlands in Louisiana.
Krista Adams, one of the leading State experts on Purple Martins will be present at the Purple Martin tent. She is an expert on the migration of these insect eating birds from the Amazon River Valley to North America. She can also guide visitors on how to erect a Purple Martin house on their own property so they can enjoy having their own small colony of insect eaters.
Another outstanding presenter at the Festival is Sally Farrell. Sally will exhibit birds that she has helped recover from injuries. Some of these beautiful birds are hawks, owls and kites.
Linda Van Aman will be the tour guide for the Native Plant Walking Tour. This tour will take place along the Nature Trail at the Islenos Facility and will pass by the exhibit of the 2000-year-old cypress log.
Charlotte Clark will represent the Common Ground Relief organization which spearheads planting wetlands vegetation and reforestation in Southeast Louisiana. She will have various species of trees that they have used in their successful projects.
Woodcarvers and the St. Bernard Art Guild will display their beautiful work depicting local birds and scenes.
