The National Park Service is calling birders and experienced canoeists to the Barataria unit of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in Marrero for a winter bird count today.
David Fox, the park's biological sciences technician, says it was scheduled after the Audubon Society's annual Christmas Bird Count to attract as many bird watchers as possible and to avoid conflicts with other park events.
Beginning birders will be teamed up with more experienced birders.
Some routes are on rails. Canoes are needed to check waterways in the marsh and in recently acquired swamp. Fox says people should bring their own canoes.
He says the only bird count at the preserve was more than a decade ago.
___