Showing posts with label Louisiana marshland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Louisiana marshland. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Avery Island, Louisiana (Egrets, Oak Trees, Alligators and More) Photography and Videos




Above is a typical scene to be found at Avery Island, New Iberia, Louisiana.  It covers about 2200 acres and is surrounded on all sides by bayous (slow moving muddy rivers) and by swampland and salt marsh.   It is mostly known for the Tabasco Sauce produced there, but it is also a bird sanctuary and has abundant wildlife and many alligators as a following video here shows.   When I visited there several years ago, I did not see any alligators whatsoever.   


Lots of Spanish moss on an over hanging oak tree branch.   Note the wild iris as well.



The Louisiana Iris is the state wildflower and it comes in a wide variety of colors:  blue, purple, yellow, white and pink.   It grows wild primarily in marshland areas around coastal areas.   


This photograph is a little blurred, but let's pretend that's because it is artistic !     I wanted to show the Louisiana wild iris with the egrets in the background.   Unfortunately, I did not take very many photographs while I was there and I am limited as to what I can post here.   Below is a video about the history of the egrets at Avery Island.   Right now it is estimated that there are over 100,000 egrets there.



And if you scroll down, here is another video with views of the gardens at Avery Island.  I hope you are interested in alligators, because there are plenty in this video below.



More of my photographs follow below:




Avery Island is a salt dome, and it is located about 140 miles west of New Orleans.  It is about 3 miles inland from Vermillion Bay which opens into the Gulf of Mexico.

I hope you enjoyed your visit with me here as much as I enjoyed viewing these photographs from years gone by.


Thursday, August 13, 2015

Honey Island Swamp And Its Wildlife - Nature Photography



Honey Island Swamp is located near Slidell, Louisiana, about 35 miles north of downtown New Orleans.   I went with my daughter on a tour boat in 2008 and thoroughly enjoyed the 2 hour trip along this marshland of the Pearl River and the West Pearl River.   It is a 70,000 acre government protected wildlife area.   Below are a few of my photographs of some of the wildlife there.   They also have racoons, wild boar, nutria, bald eagles and many songbirds, as well as black bears; none of which I saw on my trip, however.




Yellow-Crowned Night Heron

I was thrilled at this, my first ever sighting of a yellow-crowned night heron, in Honey Island Swamp.  I was on a tour boat and was only able to take two photographs of this bird before the guide moved the boat away.   This is the only shot that came out.  I intend to paint this scene one day.   



Great Blue Herons like those above are a special treat for me.  You don't see them here in Hawaii; well, I recently found out that there are suppose to be Great Blue Herons on Oahu in a couple of isolated areas that I intend to check out one day.    





There were many alligators to be seen everywhere.   Yes, they did come up close to the boat we were in.   Below is a shot of one of the tour boats.  You can see how open they are,





There was a lot of spanish moss within the swamp, as seen in this photograph.  That enclosure on the water is a protective covering for a couple of boats, which is not easily observed at first glance.

It would be wonderful to go back to Honey Island Swamp in order to capture more wildlife with my camera.    There is one critter there I don't want to see if the legend is true: a 7 foot swamp monster with yellow eyes !!   But you know how these tales can go; much exaggerated and not true.

Thank you for visiting here with me !