During the spring of 2011, Louisiana was suffering from a severe draught. The conditions in the Southwestern part of the state was particularly bad. Several of the places normally teaming with bird activity, the Rookery in Klondyke, Louisiana, and Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge were severely effected by the draught and there were no nesting birds in Klondyke and little or no water in the pools at Lacassine. During the first April tour, conditions were good at Millers Lake and we were able to make some nice images, by the second tour Millers Lake was reported to have very few birds remaining so we didn't go. Jefferson Island was great for both April tours. The water levels were high in the Atchafalaya River for both April tours and we were able to get into Cow Island Lake and make some very nice Osprey images.

Unfortunately during May water levels in the Atchafalya continued to rise as the open major flood gates north of where we do the tours and major flooding occurred in the Atchafalaya. While rainfall here in Louisiana was nonexistent. We had the odd situation with our tour sites either flooded or without any water, leaving only Jefferson Island (which has a manmade water system) as a place to shoot. I decided to cancel the May tour as it wouldn't have been a quality experience. This is the first time I've been forced to cancel a tour. Hopefully it will be the last.

For readers of Nature Photographer Magazine, I've been writing a series of articles on iphone and ipad apps on the free to read section of their Web Site. The articles have also been featured on the iPad App for the Magazine. For those of you with iPads, the iPad version is excellent by the way, with all the print magazine content plus a lot more, check it out on the itunes App Store.

The fall tour is scheduled for December 4–7, 2011. The fall tours feature landscape photography with the Cypress in their rust colored fall follaige. Frequently we also encounter early morning fog over the water, making for striking fog scenes. Last year we encountered a low layer of fog where we were able to isolate striking backlit cypress in front of the rising sun. This is a magical time for photography in the swamps of Louisiana.

more information can be found at:

The spring tours, featuring photography at Wading Bird Rookeries with Egrets, Herons, Ibis, and Roseate Spoonbills as well as Osprey in flight, and more, has been scheduled as follows:

April 1–4, 2012

April 22–25, 2012

May 6–9, 2012

Visit here for more details: