January 2009 Newsletter

While we experience several less than perfect days on the December Nature tour, we were able to maximize the shooting opportunities and get some very good shots.

The best day was the first and I rearranged the schedule, doing both boat trips on the same day. The morning was spent at Henderson Lake and we had a combination of great early morning light and the cypress in the finest fall foliage. While it was definitely a bit cold for Southern Louisiana starting out, we were really bundled up, the temperatures warmed up and we had a great morning. Water levels were very low, but using the new Gatortail mud boat, we were able to get in out with only moderate difficulty.

We stopped for a great lunch at Pat’s in Henderson. This was a treat for me as the last time I was there I was going to college in the mid 1970’s.

We then went to Lake Fausse Pointe state park. Lake Fausse Pointe state park has some of the largest and oldest cypress trees in the state. We spent several hours hiking the nature trail encountering armadillo’s and an Osprey.

While the weather had worsened by this point without the beautiful sunshine of the morning, Light was still sufficient for good shooting.

The evening was capped off with a wonderful sunset as we were returning to the dock.

The weather worsened on the second day, confirming the decision to reschedule the boats to the preceeding day. We spent the morning chasing flocks of snow geese and photographing a huge swarm of blackbirds. The low light conditions favored shooting flight blurs.

The afternoon was spent at Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge where we found White Pelicans, Roseate Spoonbills and a large number of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks. While the light was low, we were able to make some memorable images.

We spent the morning of the third day at Lake Martin photographing winter landscapes of the cypress trees in the Lake. While cold and grey, the shooting was good.

The afternoon was spent at Jefferson Island. We shot until the rain began and with the fading light focused on macro shots.

The January tour has been moved to February 8 –11 to allow us to get more water into the basin to maximize shooting opportunities. We are hoping to get shots of osprey building their nests at Cow Island Lake. Last year we had 9 Ospray nests on this rather small lake giving us unparalled opportunities to photograph nesting osprey. Also we should get early Great Egret mating activity. The attached shot was taken on February 17, 2003. I have one remaining spot for this tour so if you're interested please contact me.

The Spring tours are filling nicely, the website has been updated with the current schedule so it's now time to start scheduling.