At the very mouth of the Mississippi River there is a small island that once served as the headquarters of Delta National Wildlife Refuge. A surplus fire tower was erected on the site in order that the wardens might watch for poachers in the vast flounder-flat marshes of the delta. A friend who worked there once told me that for several years the tower was deemed unsafe and off-limits for a couple of months each winter. It wasn't because of high winds or lightning storms that the 100' tower was condemned but rather the presence of birds that some people called Tiger Owls.
