Editing Grand Isle, Louisiana (section)

===Grand Isle Birding Trail===

The birding trails along Grand Isle consists of nearly sixty acres of marsh and chenier habitat and are divided up into six tracts that are managed by the Louisiana Nature Conservancy and the Grand Isle Community Development Team.<ref name="Sue">{{cite web|last=Galliano|first=Sue|title=President of the Grand Isle Development Team}}</ref> The trails mainly consist of tracts procured by the Grand Isle Nature Conservancy or donated by local landowners. However, because some of the boundaries of the tracts are partially fragmented, the chenier habitat can sometimes expand into private property.  But due to the increased popularity of the Migratory Bird Festival, private landowners will generally allow bird watchers and ornithologists permission onto their land.  Some residents will go as far as to post signs that say "Bird Friendly" as a way to invite bird watchers onto their property.<ref name="Sue" />
          
The Grilleta Tract was established by a donation of ten acres by the Xavier Grilleta of B&G Services in 1998.<ref name="Bird Festival" /> In 2001, an additional three acres were acquired that were adjacent to the original property. Although slightly smaller than the Port Commission Marsh, the Grilleta Tract is mostly chenier habitat and is considered the center of the Grand Isle Birding Trail. This stand of forest is one of only two undisturbed chenier forests that still exist on the island. In addition to live oaks, in which a few are over 125 years old, the area supports a variety of trees and shrubs, including red mulberry, black willow, and red bay.

The Grand Isle Port Commission Tract is roughly 22 acres and is located on the western part of the island at the corner of Ludwig Lane.<ref name="Bird Festival" /> Two hundred eighty feet of boardwalk allow access to the salt marsh tidal ponds that dominate the area. In this tract, birders can spot a variety of passerines, raptors, colonial birds roosting in the sparse chenier habitat, and wading birds.<ref name="Audubon">{{cite web|title=Grand Isle|url=http://www.jjaudubon.net/grandisleguide|publisher=Orleans Audubon Society|access-date=November 1, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426012051/http://www.jjaudubon.net/grandisleguide|archive-date=April 26, 2012}}</ref> The second largest stretch of forest is a combination of the Maples tract and the Landry-Leblanc tract. It is locally called the Sureway Woods, as it is near the Sureway Supermarket. Together, the Maples tract and the Landry-LeBlanc tract comprise twenty acres of chenier forest.

The remaining two tracts on the island consist of the Cemetery Woods, which is property of Louisiana State University, and the Govan Tract.<ref name="Bird Festival" /> The Cemetery Woods is roughly four and a half acres and, like the Grilleta Tract, it contains old growth trees that are over 125 years old. In addition to the hardwood forest, the property contains salt flats and marshland, which promote the habitation of ducks, moorhens, grebes, and other wading birds. The Govan Tract was donated to the Nature Conservancy in 2003 by the Govan family, who had owned it since the late 1800s. The tract only consists of half an acre, but within it, the mass availability of lives oaks, hackberries, dewberry, and poison oak attracts birds such as painted buntings, red-winged blackbirds, warblers, and other passerines that can be seen during the migratory season.

In addition to the Grand Isle Birding Trail, bird watchers can also see marine birds such as gulls, terns, pelicans, and other shorebirds from the Grand Isle State Park at the northeast end of the island.<ref name=BreedingSeason />