Faraway Places: Herpetofauna at Barataria Preserve, LA
Barataria Preserve south of New Orleans, part of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, is one of the park’s 6 locations and contains more than 23,000 acres of swamp, marsh and waterways. I had expected to see a myriad of birds while there, but the true diversity in my wildlife sightings turned out to be in the herpetofauna. A few days prior to my visit, Louisiana had experienced unseasonably cold weather with temperatures in the 30s. The bright…