Directions:
Shell Mound Park is located east of the 3-way stop after coming over the bridge onto the island. Traveling east on Bienville take a left on Iberville and continue to the next stop sign which is Cadillac. Go straight through the stop sign and the shell mounds are directly ahead. Iberville continues around the mounds. Parking is allowed on the grass just as you enter the mound area before the road curves to the right and along the road anywhere that is safe. The buildings at the end of the road have parking lots, but these lots are not public.

Shell Mound Birding areas:
Near the front parking area as you first enter the mounds is a fairly open area containing several plants and bushes. The bushes with the orange flowers are usually called lantana by most of the birders. The lantana attracts many birds which can include:
tanagers (scarlet and summer) and ruby throated hummingbirds.

The water dripper is located near the south west corner of the mounds. From the front parking area looking toward the mounds, take the leftmost trail into the woods until you see a gigantic old oak tree. The dripper is here. Many people will just bring a chair and stay here all day to see the great number of birds. Birds that are frequently here can include:
warblers (too many to mention), waterthrush (louisiana and northern), thrush (wood, hermit, ovenbird, gray-cheeked, etc), brown thrashers, and cardinals. Watersnakes will can also be seen here often (unfortunately for one kentucky warbler that wasn't paying enough attention).

The "bowl" is the area inside the mounds where the tree growth is not as thick. You can enter the bowl via any number of paths from the paved road going around the mound. Birds that can be seen here include:
dicksissels, buntings (indigo and painted), warblers (too numerous to mention), grosbeaks (rose-breasted and blue), woodpeckers (red-bellied, yellow-bellied sapsuckers, red-headed).

The backside of the mounds (near where the paved road ends) has a small pond and some trees which the birders refer to as mulberry trees. These trees attract many birds, which can include:
cedar waxwings, mockingbirds, dicksissels, bobolinks and many kinds of warblers.
The pond here can attract:
green herons, flycatchers ( phoebes, eastern kingbirds) and swallows (rough winged, barn).

Walking through the parking lot at the end of the paved road, there is a small mound before you get to the bay. In this area there is a carved statue of a bear, that we call the "totem pole". Birds in this area can include many of the same birds which are listed in the bowl.

Pictures:
Birds:
Purple gallinule outside the mounds
Cedar waxwings in the mulberry trees (notice the eastern kingbird on the left)
Male scarlet tanager in the lantana
Female scarlet tanager in the lantana
Cape may warbler across the pond
Cedar waxwings in the mulberry trees
Male scarlet tanager in the mulberry trees
Female scarlet tanager in the mulberry trees
Rose breasted grosbeak in the back of the "bowl"
Above photos by Mark Gregory

Pelican in the bay (March 03) 
Prothonotary Warbler at the pond (March 03) 
Prothonotary Warbler on the oak (March 03) 
Little Green Heron in the pond (March 03) 
Eastern kingbird (March 02) 
2 Prothonotary warblers (March 02)
Great picture of a hooded warbler (March 02) 
Cattle Egret near the back parking lots (March 02)
Another shot of the cattle egret
DC Cormorant in the bay (March 02)
Great blue heron in the bay (March 02)
Bobolink in the mulberry trees (Video capture)
Beatiful scarlet tanager
Gray catbird near the dripper
Hummingbird high in the bare limbs
Waxwings in the mulberry tree
Indigo bunting on a path in the bowl
Baltimore Oriole in the mulberry
Gray kingbird, eastern kingbird, and baltimore oriole, altogther
Orchard oriole
Eastern Kingbird
Not a bird, but a good picture of another critter
Reptilian actually 

Landscape:
As we start to "prowl" the shell mounds near the parking lots in the back
Looking south towards the mounds
The bay looking north from the "totem pole"
Another shot of the bay from the "totem pole"
The bay looking northeast from the pond area
Another shot of the bay from the pond area
The pond looking south towards the mounds
Looking into the bowl
Another of the bowl
Looking toward the pond from the back of the mounds
Near the pond at the mulberry 
Looking toward the dripper
Picture of the "Totem Pole"
New Shell Mound Sign


Click here for more info on the shell mounds.

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If you have more information, a comment, correction, or a picture that you would like me to post just email me . I'll give credit to the photographer if I post your picture.