New Tours added for June 3–6, 2018 and November 26–29, 2018
Due to the great response to both the Spring and Fall tours which are sold out, I’ve added additional Spring and Fall tours. Check them out here: June 3 Tour November 26 Tour
April 22, 2018 Bird Photography Tour
I’ve completed my April Bird Photography Tour. All four days we photographed had beautiful weather and shooting conditions were excellent. We visited:
* Lake Martin
* Henderson Swamp
* Rip’s Rookery at Jefferson Island
* Millers LakeA Gallery of Images from this trip may be seen here
Shooting Conditions by Location
Lake Martin:
We photographed twice at Lake Martin, a sunset and a morning. For the sunset the weather was excellent, however there were few clouds at sunset so it appeared a bit flat. The morning shoot was excellent, some of us road the road and were treated with indigo buntings, a bit far to photograph but very nice to see and we also got on a pileated woodpecker. Other participants spend the time first photographing the sunrise through the fog and then working the area near the boat launch. We all finished at Lake Martin at the boat launch and were rewarded with a pileated woodpecker, a Great Blue Heron, whistling ducks, and nice shots of the cypress in the water.
Henderson Swamp
On Monday we photographed the sunrise in Henderson Swamp. After sunrise we photographed in the Large Cypress and made some nice images with Great Egrets in the landscape. We closed at the morning photographing Osprey in flight. Water levels were high, the weather was good, and the photography was superb.
Rip’s Rookery Jefferson Island
Monday afternoon we headed over to Rips Rookery at Jefferson Island. I had made several other trips there in March and April and the birds appeared and nested late. For this trip they were on the nest and there were excellent opportunities. Due to the shorter shooting distance I prefer to shoot at a smaller island one exit down from the main entrance. One concern is erosion of the island supporting the trees where the birds nest. I plan to bring this up with the owner and hopefully he can do some work on the off season so we can continue to photograph there.
Miller’s Lake
We spent Tuesday at Miller’s Lake. As with Jefferson Island the birds are behind when they usually appear, but they were there in significant numbers for this trip and the photography was very good. There was a large number if White Ibis. White Faced Ibis, Tricolor Herons, Little Blue Herons, Cattle Egrets, and Snowy Egrets were all in abundance, but in not in the numbers we normally see this time of year. I attribute this to the very cold winter and cool spring we’ve had here in Louisiana. I expect to see larger numbers for bot the May and June sessions.
A Note on Shooting Conditions for the Fall Tour
A number of people have asked me about the wonderful fog / mist we often get in the winter months (November, December, & January). The conditions are best when the weather has turned cold and the water temperature is still high. While this does frequently happen, it is not an everyday occurrence. Both the dates for the November tour have a high probability of fog, however I can’t guarantee that. While I love fog, I can say that without fog photography can be very good and reflects the unique nature of the beautiful locations. I have never been disappointed on this tour. Check out this link to the images created in previous years on the tour.
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Cypress Stumps in the Fog Henderson Swamp