It's easy to go to Audubon Zoo or take a local swamp tour to catch a glimpse of an alligator. It's also common to cross paths with area wildlife — sometimes too close to home.
Pelicans are found in abundance the closer you get to the Gulf of Mexico. Lawrence Berthelot, 69, of Schriever, said you usually find pelicans on Grand Isle or Last Island.
Raccoons are harder to spot from a local highway, but Berthelot said they are entrenched in the wooded areas where there is water. He said a fool-proof way to see a raccoon is to go walk by a crawfish pond. Berthelot said raccoons like to stay close to water because they don't have salivary glands and have to wet their food before they eat it.
Berthelot said herons come and go throughout the year, but said there are two types you can see locally, blue and green herons. He said they mainly stay inland.
fresh water than salt water," he said.
seen virtually anywhere there is water, including canals. Berthelot said if you drive along La. 20 from Schriever to Amelia, you can see alligators near the side of the road. “You can see all the gators you want,” he said. “They have gators swimming all over the place. Just about any country road you go on, you'll find gators, if they got water.” Berthelot said alligators hibernate in the winter months because they can't digest food, so they come out en masse in the summer months, which is why he said you typically see alligators on the bank of a bayou in the sun — to warm themselves and digest their food.
“You got all kinds of different types of turtles,” Berthelot said.