August: Cat Island

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Cat Island is a National Wildlife Refuge near St. Francisville in south central Louisiana. It’s a wonderfully primitive refuge. It has one road with a turn-around at the end of it somewhere in the middle of the refuge. You drive in, you drive out; you do not drive through. The road to the entrance of the refuge runs along a bayou and is interesting in its own right for wildlife observation. But the dominant feature is “the big tree,” a Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) estimated to be 1500 years old. It is 96 feet tall, has a diameter of 17…

July: Vernon Parish

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I love birds. If you’re following this blog, you know that I love to photograph and count birds. But birds are not my sole winged passion. As soon as spring is in sight, I’ll be bugging my friend Craig Marks, who has written THE book on butterflies in Louisiana, to publish the upcoming summer’s butterfly count schedule. I’ll be on as many of those counts as I can manage, time wise. Thus it was that last July, I participated in the annual butterfly count in Vernon Parish. That count begins at Allen Acres, a B&B run by my friend Dr….

June: Laccasine Pool

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The Laccasine Pool is one part of the Laccasine National Wildlife Refuge in Cameron Parish, southwest Louisiana. It is a freshwater wetland prepared for auto touring with an elevated gravel road around 16,000 acres of marsh. And it is best to stay in your car! On the day in June 2024 I visited, two rather large ‘gators got into a fight maybe 40 yards from me driving by. What a commotion! It didn’t last long and I don’t think any serious damage was done, but it sure stirred up the birds! For me, of course, birds were the primary reason…

March: Black Bayou Lake NWR

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Sorry, friends. I’m on vacation this week, having a wonderful time birding on Dauphin island. My #YearInReview has not been top priority, but this morning I’m taking a minute to let it warm up a bit outside before I head out again. Back in March 2024, my chapter of Louisiana Master Naturalists was making final plans for the statewide Master Naturalist gathering in April, which we were to host in northeast Louisiana. I was going to be leading a couple of kayak tours of the lake, so I was out scouting. I have kayaked that lake often but on this…

January: Backyard Birds

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Once again, a new year calls me to bravely begin my #YearInReview, namely a pilgrimage through my past year’s photographs to pull out one image a month that helps me tell the story of my photographic year. It takes bravery because I don’t always like what I see and I don’t always have much to choose from! Nevertheless, it has been a valuable exercise, so hear goes. I begin by breaking a rule. For January 2024, I will post multiple photos because I love the diversity of birds I sometimes have in my backyard. January is prime time–especially if there’s…