Irvin Louque
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ilouque.bsky.social
Irvin Louque
@ilouque.bsky.social
He/him

Environmental Educator 💚

Level IV ecoregion: 34j Western Gulf Coastal Plain-Lafayette Loess Plains

backyard chickens🐓 | gardening for food🥬 | foraging🍄 | birding🐦 | Cajun and Creole heritage🐊 | native plants🍁 | science communication🌻
Fall in #Louisiana. A monarch glides by the blooms of narrowleaf sunflower, blue mistflower, and goldenrod. I watch as I eat an American persimmon. #nativeplants #rewilding🌿
October 16, 2025 at 11:04 PM
The Gulf Fritillary (Dione vanillae) butterflies and caterpillars have arrived on native purple passionvine (Passiflora incarnata). 🌱🌿🦋
June 28, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Today's #WorldWildlifeDay! To celebrate, I planted a native tree. This black cherry came up last year next to a fence where it couldn't say long term. I waited until it was dormant to transplant it in a long term space. Black cherries are great for birds, insects, and people.🥫🌿🌱
March 3, 2025 at 11:55 PM
I got back from a trip and found that about 70% of the buds on my newly planted American #persimmon tree were eaten by rabbits. It's now protected by stakes and hardware cloth that I had on hand. 🌱
February 27, 2025 at 7:29 PM
I'm really excited about the upcoming Louisiana statewide seed swap this Saturday! I'm bringing some of my seeds saved from my Lafayette vegetable garden! @lsuagcenter.bsky.social #seedswap 🌱
February 6, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Turnips are one of my favorite things to grow, cook, and eat! I harvested around 3 pounds of turnips from our garden right before our big snowstorm and made 2 turnip stews! Turnips were historically a great survival food for my subsistence farming ancestors in the US south. 🌱🍽️ 🧵(1/4)
January 30, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Agreed. My state, Louisiana, has a state butterfly as of 2022: the Gulf Fritillary! They are abundant here.
January 29, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Pretty sure my collards and onions survived the snow too. I'm in South Louisiana.
January 25, 2025 at 12:01 AM
I never thought my garden would look like this in South Louisiana but here are my shallots, collards, and red creole onions. Hopefully the snow insulated them from our record 5°F low temperatures! 🌱❄️
📷 from Jan. 22
January 24, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Ice crystals the day after our historic Louisiana snowstorm! We reached 4°F last night so I'm guessing humidity froze on stems and leaves. These are on a black gun and red maple saplings that I planted for Arbor Day in 2023 and 2024. 🌿🌱❄️
January 22, 2025 at 5:12 PM
I've experienced snow just 4 or so times (in 35 years) in Louisiana I'm both excited and also needing to prepare as much as I can. 2017 was the last real snow I've experienced at home. In the meantime, the clouds out on a show this afternoon.

Graphic from our local news channel KATC.
January 18, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Yesterday was a beautiful winter day 🌞 in Cameron Parish, Louisiana so I couldn't resist slowing down a bit to watch the shorebirds at the beach. Plovers, sandpipers, avocets, and more! 🪶🌿 #birding
January 12, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Last week, I visited Moundville Archaeological Park in Moundville, Alabama. It was my first experience at a Mississippian Period (~1100-800 years ago) site. The museum on site was really cool too, and they host a Native American festival each fall that's probably worth going to. 🏺
January 9, 2025 at 2:10 AM
I love the eggs our Splash Marans hen gives us. She's a color variation on the Black Copper Marans famous for dark eggs. She's also our most chill chicken so it's easy to get photos of her. #backyardchicken 🌱
January 8, 2025 at 1:12 AM
I couldn't ignore this beautiful Ring-billed Gull when I saw it. This adult was hanging out near a water control structure letting water out of the marsh. 🪶🌿 🧵(6/6)
December 29, 2024 at 7:35 PM
Neotropic Cormorants are pretty much always present at Sabine NWR and usually easy to photograph, but I still like to watch them. It was very windy out so their balance was fun to observe, as well as their ability to perch in areas that had spikes present to reduce perching. 🪶🌿 🧵(5/6)
December 29, 2024 at 7:35 PM
I saw a handful of Snowy Egrets, but I just loved watching this one, standing on one leg among the oysters. It yawned the second I snapped the photo through my scope. They commonly feed on little fish and little crustaceans along the bayous and canals in the marsh. 🪶🌿 🧵(4/6)
December 29, 2024 at 7:35 PM
Early in the morning I spotted a Merlin on an old fence post in the marsh. It only turned it's head around but never flew while I was watching it, though I was pretty far away. 🪶🌿 🧵(3/6)
December 29, 2024 at 7:35 PM
I saw 2 male Vermilion Flycatchers during the day. One in the trees near the parking lot of the Wetlands Walkway and 1 along Blue Goose Trail. The second one was still molting into fully red feathers! 🪶🌿 🧵(2/6)
December 29, 2024 at 7:35 PM
This year's Sabine NWR Christmas Bird Count started off with fog and ended with wind. I love the refuge though as I usually see some species that aren't common in South Louisiana. After I left, a supercell thunderstorm rolled through the area. 🌿 #birdingstory #christmasbirdcount🧵 (1/6)
December 29, 2024 at 7:35 PM
I often don't pay enough attention to common birds but I did to this Neotropic Cormorant. The aqua blue eye and angular, white edge to its throat really stand out, differentiating from the similar Double-crested Cormorant. These are resident fish-eaters in SW Louisiana. 🪶🌿
December 19, 2024 at 4:51 AM
I love having a flock with so many different color egg layers. Marans, barred rocks, Easter-eggers and one Blue Copper Marans x Easter egger cross who hasn't laid yet. Only about half our flock is laying right now since some are molting.

#chickens #backyardchickens #backyardeggs
December 15, 2024 at 7:14 PM
Carolina Wolfberry (Lycium carolinianum) is a US native plant related to gogi berries that grows in coastal environments from TX to SC. They're great plants for #pollinators and provide tasty berries for birds (especially #WhoopingCranes) and people. 🌿 #CarolinaWolfberry
December 15, 2024 at 6:49 PM
An extra tiny pink sundew (Drosera capillaris) along the same trail at the MS Sandhill Crane NWR. These sundews was about the size of a penny. We saw dozens. 🌿 #CarnivorousPlants
December 14, 2024 at 4:59 PM
A tiny parrot pitcher plant (Sarracenia psittacina) along the trail at the MS Sandhill Crane NWR. 🌿 #carnivorousplants
December 14, 2024 at 4:54 PM