Eagles and Egrets

Bald Eagle perched in a bald cypress tree.

Blue skies and cold air greeted Steve Uffman and I as we launched at Bayou Black Marina to do a Bald Eagle Scout for my upcoming workshop at Eagle Expo March 1, 2013 in Morgan City. We saw our first bird 15 minutes later on nest #1.  She was hunkered down incubating her eggs.  Off we sped to the next two that are near the marina and found the same.  By the end of the day, all 14 that we got relatively close to had females on the nest.  Two nests had been rebuilt.  They were near last year’s nest that was blown down in one of the summer storms.  I had to ask Steve to slow down; 30 knots in his bay boat had my eyes watering so bad that I could not see well enough to look for new nests. Then we found 4 new nests.  Total count for the day was 18. Four we could not get close to.  One of last year’s was down with no sign of a new nest, but one bird was in the vicinity of the old nest.

CC releases a Great Egret after freeing her from a nutria trap. Photo Credit: Steve Uffman.

As we approached the area, I noticed a Great Egret struggling.  It was caught in a nutria trap of the leg hold type.  Steve edged the boat up to the bank, and I jumped out on the spongy marsh soil and tossed my jacket gently over the trapped bird.  Then I sprung the trap and checked out the bird’s foot.  It was bleeding slightly, but remarkably did not seem broken. As I held her carefully, I saw her wiggle her toes.  She had a couple of breeding plumes already, and her face had changed into breeding colors.  I released her to fly way with her legs trailing normally.  I think she will be fine, find her mate, and nest successfully. Another treat of the day were the numerous hawks.  I counted 75 over our 61 mile trip – mostly red-tail hawks.  I'll go back in a few weeks to see the eagles flying more.  They will make many trips to the nest to feed hungry young.

Atchafalaya

In the last two weeks I went into the Atchafalaya 6 times, it was kind of like the old days.  Almost anyway, because when I first ventured into the basin I would usually go in for 5 nights.  I would camp in my Gart Brothers $19.95 canvas pup tent, carry my cameras in a Coleman ice chest, sleep on a piece of foam rubber that I bought from an army surplus store and eat canned tuna, peanut butter, apples and sweet rolls. So it was different in the fact that these six were day trips, on five I stayed until sunset and on the other we went for sunrise, but a blown tire on the boat trailer caused us to miss that part of the morning. On one trip I took friends, three others were with workshop students and two were exploring by myself.

A young raccoon on top of a cypress tree at sunset.

Different again because on all six, I saw bald eagles. That never happened in the 70’s. On recent trips I always see more wildlife.  Beaver, alligators and the biggest treat was two young raccoons that ran down the bank and climbed up a small bald cypress tree just as the last gleam of a setting sun put a little light on one’s face. Best of all was the peace and quite of the fall landscapes. Moss covered bald cypress trees were especially photogenic in the low afternoon light.  There were lots of choices for angles in the small bayous north of Flat Lake, the banks of Cross Bayou and the big second growth trees of Mimms Lake.  When this rain stops I am heading back out, those same trees should be in their peak of fall colors.

Reflections of moss covered bald cypress trees near Cross Bayou.

Fall In Colorado

It was 48 degrees at my house this morning, true fall weather. Leaves, although mostly green, have been falling or blown off since Hurricane Isaac. Now, happiness is in the air as I hope all of those hot humid days of summer are gone. Yet, I could not wait until today this joy so last month I took the high road to Colorado to photograph that blanket of golden yellow that decorates the Rocky and Sangre de Cristo mountains at 8,000 - 10,000 feet.

Most of my time was spent in Wet Mountain Valley. It's in the shadow of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains which are called such because you see them light up in red on some mornings. Headquartered in the town of Westcliffe, once a silver mining community, I taught a natural history photo workshop specializing in fall colors, ranch life (see web page for more cowgirl pictures) and digital workflow. Our group of eight photographed cottonwood lined creeks with 14,000 ft. mountains in the background.

After shooting in the foothills, we took jeeps over Medano Pass. At 10,000 feet, it is in the heart of aspen tree habitat. The west side had many more photogenic trees than the east. They were in peak color with 13,297 ft. Mount Herard in the background.

Driving down the western slope, we crossed Medano Creek nine times. Then the road turned sandy as we had a view of the Great Sand Dunes National Park. You would think you were in the Sahara Desert; they are so massive. My best shot was framing the dunes in some partially changed cottonwood trees.

With so much to photograph, the students and I had a hard time keeping up with downloading and editing. Today I finally narrowed my shoot down to 300 images to label and keyword. And a few more of those photos will be trimmed in the coming weeks as the newness of the trip wears off and Louisiana fall gives me its subtle change of season to photograph.

Colorado Cowgirls

A herd of quarter horses gallop across the pastures

After landing in the Colorado Springs Airport and being refreshed by the cool mountain air and seeing the explosion of golden yellow aspen leaves I met my workshop students at the Coyote Moon workshop complex.  Brent Bruser and Bar Scott run writing, music and photography workshops in this refurbished youth ski hostel.

Elin Ganschow galloping with lasso in hand to herd the horses

We had a treat lined up for the students before we tackled the natural history images of the mountains.  Far tucked between some ridges in the Wet Mountain Valley is the Music Meadows Ranch owned and run by Elin Ganschow.  Before sunrise the students and I shot images of this authentic cowgirl silhouetted against the big Colorado sky. Then her daughter, Katlyn Rusher, joined her to move a herd of 14-quarter horses between pastures.  It’s quite the site to see, these two women in full gallop with the herd.

Elin Ganschow carrying the vintage saddle 

Elin with blond pig tails under a cowboy hat with a floral band, pink shirt and a vintage saddle acquired from a retired rodeo champion was as truly photogenic.  We spent the rest of the day getting details and close ups around the ranch, before retiring to the barn for steaks from the grass fed beef she raises on the ranch.  Under a waxing crescent moon, we walked back to our vehicles without the need of a flashlight. The moon and stars lit up the night in these clear mountain skies as we thought about a trip to the mountains for the next day's shoot.

Night Animals

Animals visiting the Big Hole Project

Red Fox ( Vulpes vulpes)
*Low Res. image caught by night cameras

One of the fringe benefits of my land building project is having the curiosity of learning what wildlife is using the new land.  I set up a remote camera to find out and was rewarded with quite a diversity of wild creatures and some not so wild.  With my 1,379th bag of yard waste deposited on July 9th, I have created 720 square feet of new level land that was once a steep crevasse.  My favorite mammal to walk through the infrared beam of the camera was a sleek and well furred red fox, a mostly nocturnal animal probably looking for mice utilizing the composting leaves and grass clippings as a home. The coyote came by for the same reason.

Raccoon (Procyon lotor)
*Low Res. image caught by night cameras

The opossums, armadillos and raccoons that passed the camera were looking for food too, like insects for the armadillo.  I have found many species of invertebrates using the giant compost pile.  Corn, I put out for the deer also brought in the opossum and coon.  I got one shot of a raccoon inspecting a bag of leaves I hadn't emptied yet.  White-tailed deer have been the most numerous visitors.  I have over 500 pictures of deer, mainly does, but a few nice bucks. They quickly get used to the camera clicking and utilize the area nightly.

At night I have also seen a cottontail rabbit, my neighbors cat, numerous dogs. In the day, grey squirrels, crows, blue jays, doves, chickadee and many other birds drop by.  I also catch an occasional human coming down to inspect the progress of my project.

Again I tie my project into the vanishing wetlands of coastal Louisiana, the habitat there is a prolific conglomeration of wildlife.  My hole project is the same as layers of yard refuse saved from the landfill are making habitats for a diverse array of creatures.  See more pictures of night creatures here.

The Big Hole Project

My wife thinks I am half crazy dragging bags of leaves, grass clippings and other yard debris to an erosion gap in our creek.  Maybe she is right, for I have just unloaded bag number 1,311 into that hole.  All of these bags were collected since June of 2011.  That’s 108 bags per month I have saved from the Baton Rouge landfill.  Estimated to be 26,000 pounds of good organic material not wasted. See more pictures.

Adam Aucoin stand in the hole in June of 2011,
since then 1. 311 bags of leaves  have been put in.

Why?  It started on September 1, 2008 when the winds of Hurricane Gustav knocked down a pine tree, 3 foot in diameter and over 80 feet tall into the above mentioned gap.  It extended into my creek.  I was immediately sad to lose such a big tree and especially so because that gap was my trail to the stream. I solved part of the problem by trimming the limbs off the tree so I could walk down to the creek on top of it. A little more than two years later this became dangerous as the tree rotted.  On May 29, 2011 my stepson Adam and I sawed the pine log into four foot pieces and left them in the hole. A few days later I started throwing nearby limbs and branches on the logs. Brainstorm!  I could see the crevasse totally filled up, making a nice view point over the creek and creating 720 square feet of usable land.

CC stands on the newly accreted land after many bags
 of leaves and grass clipping have been put in.

Branches would take a long time so another idea came to mind as I headed to my office and saw some garbage bags by the street full of grass clippings.  I had collected leaf bags in the fall for years to make compost.  I decided to start collecting bags of yard refuse and fill the crevasse.  With a combination of grass, leaves, sticks and a little dirt every now and then, this concoction of materials will decompose faster than just the logs, limbs and branches.  Furthermore, it has the added advantage of keeping those full bags of valuable vegetable matter out of the land fill.  I made my first entry in my hole ledger on June 5, 2011.  Twenty-one bags of grass went into the hole.  I quickly found out who had the best bags of stuff in a six block radius of my office. So in just a few minutes each Monday on the way to work I could obtain 20 to 30 bags.

So working like a beaver, engineering with layers of leaves, grass clippings and fallen limbs, I began filling that eroded crevasse. It was about 18 feet wide and 40 feet long.  It starts about 4 feet deep and reaches 15 feet deep by the creek. Today, I can walk out about 22 feet on solid ground and another 10 on a spongy surface of compacting leaves.  This leaves only 8 feet left to reach the bluff above the creek.  That will be the hard part, developing a firm vertical bank.

I know as it decomposes, it will sink, compact and subside just like the Louisiana coast and I just like the Mississippi River will keep adding layers until I reach the height and compaction I need.  Unlike the Louisiana coast which always needs new sediment, I think I will reach a point where I no longer have to add.

It's a crying shame that we do not let the Mississippi River get its valuable sediments from the heartland of America into our beautiful and valuable marshes anymore and drag our feet in making that right.

It took 6,000 years of Mississippi River sediments from the heartland of America to build 8,000 square miles of coastal Louisiana.  It will take me about a year and a half to make a 720 square foot plaza above my creek and save the landfill about 2,000 bags of leaves and grass.  As I sit out on my newly accreted land, I think maybe, just maybe this hole project be the inspiration to getting the valuable sediment out of the Mississippi and back into the coastal wetlands.
Link to Baton Rouge Recycle

Bags of Leaves

What does saving Louisiana's subsiding coast, making compost and taking it easy on the Baton Rouge landfill have in common with these bags of leaves? Find out Monday when I write about a project I started one year ago.

Bags of leaves collected from the street in South Baton Rouge