Seabirds and Whales of Louisiana

Here are pictures of a possible Black-tailed Gull found on the beach at Port Fourchon, Louisiana, at the end of June, 1999. What do you think?

Here are some links related to the general subjects of this set of pages:

• The Louisiana Ornithological Society has its own web site, including a Pelagic Page with information about the trips, and a page of links to all subjects ornithological.
• Dan Purrington has a Pelagic Birds page and a Louisiana Birds page, with trip logs for the May 1997, September 1997, June 1998, August 1998, April 1999, and November 1999 trips. Be ready for relatively long download times.
• Reports and articles about the trips: a Newsletter containing an article about the June 1998 trip, an Article about the August 1998 trip, a Report and an Article about the April 1999 trip, a Report aboout the July 1999 trip, and a Report about the November 1999 trip.
• Here is the Whale-Watching Web site, with links for the whale-watching tourist, the marine mammal conservationist, and the scientist, and a web site about Cetaceans Occuring in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Some birds spend most of their lives offshore, and others migrate across the Gulf; here's a site about Trans-Gulf Migration, with preliminary results from a study based on offshore oil platforms.
• Here is a site with information about Louisiana birds both on land and at sea: Southwestern Louisiana Birding.
• Trips off North Carolina get many of the same birds we do. For information about trips and lots of excellent pictures, see the Brian Patteson web site.

Where are the LOS offshore trips going? The following links lead to remote sensing information for the Gulf of Mexico. Note: Many of these images take some time to download, especially during times of high internet use, and especially if you have a relatively slow modem.

• Check the weather before you go: The New Orleans Radar Image, and the Interactive Marine Weather for the gulf.
• An image (242K) showing topography of the continental slope from the mouth of the Mississippi to the west (notice how close the mouth of the river is to deep water), from a USGS study of geological processes affecting the area.
• The SeaWiFS Project has interesting sattelite images, though cloud cover often interferes with the sensor.
• Images showing Gulf of Mexico sea surface height, from a study of the gulf by the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research. The project is monitoring water circulation, including loop current eddies. These images are updated frequently, and an archive is available.
• An image showing the Mississippi River's sediment plume, from the Coastal Studies Institute at LSU. (The LOS trips go well offshore, beyond the brown water).

This page was last updated on September 17, 1999.