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THURSDAY DECEMBER 11, 2014 H B O C AG E • C O U N T RY C LU B • H I G H L A N D • J E F F E R S O N T E R R AC E • K E N I LW O R T H • P E R K I N S • U N I V E R S I T Y C LU B THEADVOCATE.COM
Darlene Denstorff ON THE SOUTHSIDE
In search of feathered friends BY C.J. FUTCH
cfutch@theadvocate.com DDENSTORFF@ THEADVOCATE.COM
Christmas comes to Kenilworth It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Kenilworth. Kenilworth Subdivision residents can purchase luminary candles from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at 7539 Boone Drive. The luminaries will be on display and the subdivision’s lighting contest is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Dec. 21.
Decoy exhibit
Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center is hosting the American Decoy Exhibit through February. The exhibit is on display at 10503 N. Oak Hills Parkway during the center’s operating hours. In addition to the center’s resident collection of Louisiana decoys by Charles Frank Jr., the American Decoy exhibit features nonLouisiana works from the Gary Lipham collection. The pieces hail from all over the U.S. General admission fees apply: $3 for adults, $2 for children 3-17 and $2.50 for those 65 and older.
Gina Periou loves birds, though it took her a while to catch the birding bug. “My mom was a birder. I remember going out to look for orioles’ nests and talking about the birds in her yard. Every year in spring, she’d say, ‘Oh, my prothonotary’s back,’ (referring to a prothonotary warbler). She was always talking about one bird or another. “I didn’t care much when I was a teen. I’d roll my eyes and think to myself, ‘Enough with
the birds!’ But I would tell the whole world if I had a prothonotary warbler in my yard now,� Periou said. She also wishes she’d paid more attention to her mother’s bird expertise. Periou co-owns Wild Birds Unlimited, a Southside shop that caters to birders of all levels of expertise, and had to learn as she went, she said. The shop has become a kind of home base for a bevy of knowledgeable customers who stop by from all over south Louisiana and parts of Mississippi, sharing both their expertise and their
bird sightings and stories. “I’ve learned a lot just by listening to what the customers are talking about,â€? she said, adding that the shop serves as a sort of information clearinghouse. If a birder wants to spot a particular breed, some customer may have seen one and may be willing to share the location, or give them some good bets. Sometimes, they work together as bird detectives. “I had a lot of customers come in and ask where the birds were this year,â€? Periou said. EspeäSee FEATHERED, page 6G
Winter watching Season is a good time to spot birds near bodies of water
BY C. J. FUTCH
Children’s program
cfutch@theadvocate.com
The Bluebonnet Regional Library is hosting a children’s reading and craft program Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Children are invited to attend “A Christmas Gift� program, which will include the reading of “Winter’s Gift,� a story by Jane Monroe Donoval, and a tote bag craft project. Call (225) 763-2260.
Winter is a great time of year for birdwatching in Louisiana, particularly near bodies of water, said Lindsay Seely, who led a recent bird walk around the Capitol building for Southside’s Wild Birds Unlimited. “I wish this fog would lift,� she said to Kimberly Lanka, a fellow birder who routinely brings an extra pair of binoculars to Seely’s scheduled bird walks, just in case
Library book club
Interested in joining a book club? The Bluebonnet Library Book Club meets the third Wednesday each month at 7 p.m. The January book is “Tropic of Cancer� by Henry Miller. Call (225) 763-2250.
‘Let it Snow’
The Louisiana Arts and Science Museum Discovery Dome’s “Let it Snow� program is coming to the Bluebonnet Library. Four 30-minute programs will be held starting at 2:20 p.m. Dec. 18. Registration is required. Call (225) 763-2260. Contact Southside Advocate Editor Darlene Denstorff by phone, (225) 336-6952 or (225) 603-1998; or email southside@theadvocate.com. Deadline: noon Monday.
Advocate file photo by ADAM LAU
An American goldfinch perches on a branch in Port Allen’s Rivault Park in 2013. Goldfinches are here, said Gina Periou, but have such abundant food supplies in the trees that they’ve shied away from bird feeders.
anyone needs them. Though the fog complicated matters far from shore for the group of seven, Seely and Lanka patiently scooped out interesting varieties of water fowl, using their powers of description to explain the minutiae of a bird’s distinguishing features, in addition to its exact location. “OK, if you look where the branches spread out like lace, then follow the trunk up to the first branch on the left after that, äSee WATCHING, page 6G
Photo provided by KIMBERLY LANKA
Ruddy ducks, with distinctive tail feathers that point up, swim behind a group of squat, colorful mergansers on one of the Capitol Lakes.
Future siblings get baby crash course BY C. J. FUTCH
“OK, we’re going to need more baby sisters,� Bull said to her co-workers, Amie Williams Woman’s Hospital educator and Dana Sunseri, who took Heather Bull sat at the top of several of the dolls wrapped a circle of 15 excited students in blue off of the table at the ages 4 to 8 on Dec. 6, holding a front of the room and talked to the children while they went to baby doll in her lap. Bull was teaching “A Baby is the doll supply closet. “We want Coming,� a class for children everyone who’s having a baby expecting siblings offered ev- sister to get a sister doll,� Bull ery month at Woman’s, and said. When everyone was settled in “Tyke Hyke,� a similar class for Photo by C.J. FUTCH with the right gender, all eyes children younger than 4. Carmen Brignac, 8, left, prac“How many of you are hav- were on Bull as she explained tices feeding a new baby with ing a baby brother?� she asked. “the rules� of handling newa doll in the ‘A Baby is Com- Just a couple of hands popped borns at home. ing’ class. “It’s her first time to become up. cfutch@theadvocate.com
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a big sister,� said Latrinka Cook of her daughter Auna, 7. Cook is due “one day this month, but I’m hoping for 12-13-14. It’s easy to remember.� She was glad the course was available to Auna as a refresher, in kids’ terms, that was easy to digest. Auna paused to place her palms on her mom’s baby bump, giving it a quick kiss and hugging her mom. “The baby responds to her voice already,� Cook said. “She’ll be a good big sister.� Children learned how to swaddle, how to safely hold the baby — in a cradle made in the
lap by sitting “crisscross, applesauceâ€? —and how to safely touch and play with the baby. “Always wash your hands before you touch your brother or sister,â€? Bull said. That, Cook said, is the part she hopes Auna remembers, but there are two other important rules — always ask an adult before picking up the baby, and touch with the palms; don’t poke with the fingers. The siblings and parents also went on a tour of the private delivery rooms upstairs, saw äSee BABY, page 6G
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