Louisiana in November, any advice welcome

[Alfonso Gordon]

Hi All,

I live in Spain, and I need to go to New Orleans in November for work so I was planing to have some extra days for shooting in the area. I love birds and big game photography, so any recommendation will be more than welcome about locations and equipment needed. I have a 1D MKIV and lenses from 16 to 600 mm, and I'm not sure if I need to carry the 600 f4 or not.

Thanks a lot in advance for your help.

Alfonso

[Harold Davis]

hi alfonso. i dont know much about photography in LA, but the time you are going to be there is prime time for ducks and geese in that area. i hope someone else that knows that area will chime in and help you out. i'll PM someone that might know also.

[Michael Pancier]

Alfonso, per my sources out there, big-game will be hard to photograph as it is hunted too hard. But colorful birds, and small game (nutria's, etc.) might be found here:

http://www.fws.gov/bayousauvage/

http://www.fws.gov/southeastlouisiana/index.html

hope this helps

[Alfonso Gordon]

Thanks a lot guys for the info and links.

We will be driving for two days from Dallas to New Orleans, and someone has told me about the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge and the Rockefeller State Wildlife Refuge, so we will get down to Beaumont and then to New Orleans. Does anyone know anything about them? At the same time, any other idea or itinerary from DFW to NO will be wellcome.

Thanks again

[Matthew Pontiff]

Alfonso, Sabine NWR is still a fairly nice place to visit although recent hurricanes have devastated the area. If you can, I recommend taking Hwy 82 from Texas into LA, stopping at Peveto Woods (bird sanctuary), then hitting Holly Beach and taking a short jog north on Hwy 27 to Sabine NWR's nature trail. Then I recommend back south to Holly Beach and continuing east on Hwy 82 across the ferry to Cameron. Cameron is slowly being rebuilt from Hurricane Rita in 2005 but has gas/food/lodging if necessary (convenience store at LA/TX line that doesn't have gas, nothing else until Cameron). Here you can continue east through Rockefeller or head north to Cameron Prairie NWR for ducks, geese and small flocks of Sandhill Cranes. From here, you can head north to Holmwood and go east to Lacassine NWR for more ducks and geese. Lacassine is split up into Refuge Headquarters and the actual pools that you can drive around (highly recommended for ducks, grebes, moorhens, coots). I haven't liven in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005 but Bayou Sauvage was worth a visit back then; it had a trail through the woods and it was close enough to Lake Pontchartrain to visit it also for Loons/Grebes. Any specific birds/animals that you want to see/photograph? Good luck and feel free to PM me for more information. Matt Pontiff