Urban wilderness along the Mississippi River

During recent visits to New Orleans, my partner and I enjoyed walking along the levee of the Mississippi River. Across a railroad track and up the levee is a paved track for cyclists and pedestrians.

Equestrians from nearby Riverbend Stables

I’m intrigued by the forms of transmission towers and other industrial structures on the levee. Decay also fascinates me, and these otherwise eyesores don’t disappoint.

Some unexpected birds inhabit the levee. It’s not unusual to encounter Bantam chickens like the ones below, strolling about the concrete reinforcement.

Monk parakeets have thrived in New Orleans since the 1960s, when some escaped their domestic cages. They build nests on the steel beams of the power plant on River Road and can be seen flitting back and forth to visit relatives in the transmission towers on the levee.

Walk down the concrete-reinforced levee and make your way through brambles . . .

. . . and the raw bank of the Mississippi River reveals a netherworld of trees whose eerie forms survive on land as well as water.

Morning fog blanketing the muddy river

A tugboat muscles its load upstream.

Pelicans gliding through the mist

Industrial smokestacks on the West Bank

A red buoy washed ashore after outliving its purpose of marking the river’s navigable channel.

Signs of human habitation . . .

All photos by Camille Martin