Urban Wildlife in New Orleans
New Orleans is home to many types of wildlife. From backyard birds and city squirrels to alligators and nutria in the bayou, people and wildlife can typically coexist. But occasionally, humans and wildlife come into conflict, and monitoring wildlife in the New Orleans area can help understand and appreciate wildlife in New Orleans, help us track invasive species, and help parks managers and urban planners consider best-practice strategies for wildlife management.
The Audubon Nature Institute manages a city-wide urban wildlife monitoring program. We use motion-sensing wildlife cameras in parks, green spaces, and natural areas all throughout the Greater New Orleans area. We work with parks managed by Audubon (Audubon Park, Audubon Louisiana Nature Center, Audubon Wilderness Park), by Orleans Parish government (New Orleans Recreation Department and New Orleans Parks and Parkways), Jefferson Parish Parks and Recreation, City Park, Sankofa Wetland, the Woodlands Conservancy, and Bayou Sauvage Urban National Wildlife Refuge. We work with students at the University of New Orleans to identify wildlife in photos, and to train the next generation of wildlife biologists.
In 2025, we joined an international group called the Urban Wildlife Information Network to share data on urban wildlife across more than 50 cities on four continents.
