At 10am this morning the Corp of Engineers opened parts of the Bonnet Carre Spillway diverting some of the flow of the Mississippi River into Lake Pontchartrain. It is also possible they will open the Morganza Floodway, diverting some of the River into the Atchafalaya River Basin sometime next week.

This is being done to protect the populated areas in and around New Orleans.

The photograph above was taken in early April of 2011 at Cow Island Lake, one of our favorite places to photograph Osprey in the Atchafalaya basin. This is a great place to photograph them as the nests are just above the water level. Later that spring the Morganza floodway was opened and the nest you see above was underwater. Several of my friends participated in the rescue of the chicks on this and other nests on the Lake.

While I'm in full support of opening the floodway to protect New Orleans and other communities along the river, I can't help think about the impact on the people and wildlife in the Atchafalaya Basin that may be impacted.