If Birds Could Talk: The Pelican Briefs November 3, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Louisiana Wildlife, Photography.Tags: birds of south louisiana, brown pelican, Pelecanidae, pelicans
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Hey fellas! Long time no see. How you doing?
Hey baby. Is that a fish in your pouch, or are you just glad to see me?
Oh my gosh! Something just touched my foot! Can’t we just find a nice sit-down buffet someplace?
So Boudreaux and Thibodaux walk in to this bar…Oh man, not this one again.
Rahhhhhhhhhhhh!
Oh no! Tooooo fast! Fore!!!
Whew! I meant to do that the whole time.
Come to papa!
Score!
Now that’s what I’m talkin’ bout, baby!
Come on fellas. Leave some for the rest of us. No one likes a fish hog.
If Birds Could Talk: The Osprey November 2, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Louisiana Wildlife, Photography.Tags: osprey, pandion haliaetus, raptor, sea hawk, south louisiana birds
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Oh man. Who is that? Great, a Yankee with a camera.
Whoa! That branch is a bit precarious. I need to stop eating those German chocolate brownies every night. Ah, but they’re so good.
Alright, here we go. Click, click, click. Can’t you just leave me alone? I’ve had a busy day and I just want a little me time. Is that too much to much to ask?
OK, time for some intimidation. Look little girl, these talons are razor sharp and I have no qualms about coming down there and gauging your eyes out.
Really, I’m serious. Stop it.
OK little miss I-think-I’m-a-hot-shot-photographer! I have had about e-nough from you. Put that camera away right this second, get back in that truck and head on down the highway.
Do you hear me? That’s it. I am going to count to three. One. Two.
Three. Really, this branch is not safe. How come they don’t make branches down the bayou like they used to?
Fine. Be that way. I’m outta here.
Ha ha ha! You may have gotten skunked, but I did not my sad little Yankee friend!
It Was A Day For the Birds October 31, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Louisiana Wildlife, Photography.Tags: great white egret, immature osprey, pelicans, Photography, south louisiana birds
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Alright, so if you’ve landed here a time or two, it will come as no surprise that I am enthralled with the birds of south Louisiana. I am particularly fond of the big birds (no, not the Sesame Street variety although Big Bird was definitely a childhood hero). But it’s not that I don’t like smaller birds. It’s just that my eyes aren’t what they used to be so I often don’t notice them as easily and I don’t have one of those groovy cool super-duper zoom lenses to make them look like anything other than colored dots when I do see them. While I’m sure that Santa will be leaving a few of those high-powered lenses under some Christmas trees this year, there won’t be one under mine. But that’s ok, cause I still need to figure out how to use the lenses I do have anyway.
I was thinking though that it’s kind of funny that I love taking photographs of all these amazing birds throughout our wetlands, but I can’t really identify most of them by name. It’s not that some very patient folks haven’t tried to teach me, but I think my memory is beginning to follow my eyes. But maybe if I’m a good girl, what Santa might very well leave me under the tree this year is a birding field guide to help me out.
A good friend once told me that they only had regular birds where he grew up in Brooklyn. And I kept thinking during my trek around the bayous yesterday, what would Sandy call these birds? Highly irregular birds?
Not Smarter Than Your Average… October 5, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Louisiana Wildlife, Photography.Tags: bald eagle, egrets, herons, Louisiana Wildlife, night heron, osprey, Photography, wetlands
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Wish someone would write me a story, but the chances of that are pretty slim so I guess I’ll just have to write you all one instead. I’ll even make it an illustrated story since I know you’re just here for the pictures anyway.
The old truck rumbled down the crossroad. She hit the seek button on the radio. “Pump up the jam…,” ugh, high school flashback. Click. “Just $19.95 plus shipping and…”. Click. “It’d be easy to add up all the pain and all the dreams you set watch go up in flames…” Geez, that’s a pretty song. She usually doesn’t enjoy Country, but that’s pretty nice. Whoa! What the what? That’s Dave! Holy cow. She’ll need to find that song on iTunes when she gets back to civilization.
“…breathing in and out’s a blessing can’t you see? Today is the first day of the rest of my life….now I’m ali…” What was that? She checks the rear view mirror and pulls the old Ford to the side of the road and starts backing up while reaching in the camera bag. Click. “Is that what I think it is?”
Gosh, not sure. She sure wished that thing was a little closer and her eyes hadn’t starting giving out on her before she even hit puberty. Let me try again, she thinks. Click. Zoom, zoom, zoom.
Hmm…sure does look like one even though it’s pretty darn fuzzy. But, she’d been fooled before. Click. Zoom, zoom, zoom.
Oh yeah, definitely got something here she said to her friend peaking around the corner for a glance.
She opened the door carefully not to scare off the majestic creature and inched closer to the bank. Click. Click.
“Hey, where ya going,” she shouted. Click.
She cranked up the engine and headed in the direction of her prey. Hmmm…that could be it. Not sure. Click. Zoom, zoom, zoom.
Tough to tell. She grabbed the video camera from the front seat and decided to try to wait it out.
La la la. Boy that’s one stubborn bird she said to the buzzard or whatever that scary bird was hanging out in the nearby dead tree.
“Whoa. Kinda got some Dracula thing going on there Mr. Big Scary Bird.”
“Come on possible eagle. Come see.” Oh well, at least there were some other not-so-stubborn birds around to photograph while she waited. Click. Click. Click.
“Alright, I give up my stubborn, possibly-an-eagle-but-possibly-not-friend. I’m tired, hungry and lonely, and now it’s starting to get dark,” she said as she folded up the tripod and hopped down from the tailgate. “Maybe we will meet again some day.”
After unloading the truck, she sat down at the kitchen table and popped the memory card in the slot on the laptop for a closer look.
“Drat. Hello Mr. Osprey. I’m definitely not smarter than your average eagle. Send him my regards when you see him.”
“Nice catch though, Oscar! Wish I were fishing too.”
For Your Viewing Pleasure September 30, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Friends, Louisiana Wildlife, Photography.Tags: alligators, bald eagles, blue heron, cypress swamp, herons, Photography, south Louisiana, swamp tours
6 comments
Sorry y’all. Haven’t had much of anything interesting or funny to say lately, but a good friend was nice enough to take me on a swamp tour recently. So how about some pictures and I will save you from having to read my dribble?
Don’t Leave Home Without It September 18, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Louisiana Wildlife, Photography.Tags: bald eagle, eagle migration, eagles, flying eagles, Photography, south Louisiana
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Being in the Right Place At the Right Time August 22, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Bayou Life, Louisiana Wildlife, Photography, Ramblings.Tags: lightning, osprey, Photography, south Louisiana
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So yesterday as I was driving home, a fairly large storm system was headed our way. Now I just happened to be coming up on one of my favorite scenic panorama areas from which I take many photos so I decided to pull over at my usual spot. The sky was getting pretty electric and I wanted to see if I might be able to get at least one good shot of a lightning bolt. This is no small task I might add. I’ve tried a number of times before with no or very little success. In actuality, I’ve only managed two shots of lightning in my whole life–both on the same day and both not very good–and I’m fairly certain that I came close to risking my life for one of them which wasn’t too bright of me. But at least I had the pleasure of saying that I’ve got a couple of lightning shots in my portfolio.
So before the rain started flying I decided to crawl up in the bed of the pickup for a better vantage point. Now I do understand that that is probably not the best place to be when the lightning is flying, but the storm was still well off to the west and I didn’t feel that I was putting myself in any danger. So there I sat. Camera at the ready. Bolt. Click. Damn, too late. Another bolt. Click. Click. Shoot. Too late again. Wow. Huge burst of lightning. Click. Click. Click. Curses. This is impossible. Oh no. Do I feel sprinkles? Yep. Ok, well I’ll see if I can get anything from inside the truck.
Bolt. Bolt. Click. Click. Nothing! Ok, well, maybe I should just try to get some other interesting shots and make do with what I’ve got. Maybe every time I try taking pics during a storm it’s like I’m building up some reservoir of sub-conscious lightning knowledge. You know, like if I keep doing this enough, eventually I will just instinctively know where to point my camera for the next big strike. Yeah, I know that’s probably not possible. Lightning is unpredictable. I know that. But, maybe, just maybe. Some day when I’m old and gray. Oh wait, I am old and gray now aren’t I? Well, that’s not what I mean. You know what I mean.
Alright, time to get home. I’ll just work with what I have and chalk the rest up to a learning experience. I know I got some good shots earlier in the day of some cats in an old shed like this…
and this…
And I’m pretty sure I got an interesting pic of a water droplet on my window like this…
and I think I got a semi-decent shot of that bird. What is that? An osprey I think. I’m not positive though.
And then, there it was. In all it’s glory. Yeah, baby! Who said practice doesn’t pay off in the end?
Time Flies June 28, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Bayou Life, Big Fun on the Bayou, Fishing, Friends, Louisiana Wildlife, Ramblings, Relief Work.Tags: alligators, wetlands, louisiana, redfish, Fishing, saltwater fishing, hurricane relief, marsh, outdoor, eagle, honey bees
3 comments
So I can see from the date of my last post that I have been a bad blogger once again. It’s been a fun-filled week of new friends, volunteers (who are now new friends), relief work, paper work, good food, too much sun, gator spotting, eagle spotting, and fishing. And oh boy, did we fish!
And fished some more…
and a little more for good measure.
Oh yeah, and a little more fishing just to be sure.
And since a limit a day keeps the psychiatrist away…
And although it looks like I spent every waking moment fishing, I actually did engage in a few other activities. Like chasing what I thought was an eagle around the rec center for 2 hours in the 104 degree heat trying to get a good pic, but not being too successful…no matter since it wasn’t a real eagle…
and trying to get a good picture of a gator at night…
and trying to keep a safe distance, but still get a good pic of some honey bees…
and trying to get just a little better close up…
and carting around tools and supplies for a great bunch of guys from Tennessee (the Volunteer State I might add)…
and becoming the incredibly proud owner of a GJ original (although I was so excited I forgot to turn it the right way for the camera).
And now it’s time to pack a bag for a few adventures of the Michigan variety and get a little bit of this action going on.
Only On The Bayou June 12, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Bayou Life, Louisiana Wildlife.4 comments
Yes, yes. I know. I have been a very bad blogger. Ten days and no posts. And I’m sorry to say it, but I’m going to be a very bad blogger again today. However, I’m hoping that today’s photo will make up for it. I wish I could say that I was the one who took it, but photo credit goes to Matt Stamey of the Houma Courier. Seriously, this could be one of the best newspaper photos I’ve ever seen.
No serious human injuries, but apparently the guy hit by this car was coming home from a day of frog hunting. Do they make froggy-sized body bags? I mean really, all I can say is…I LOVE THE BAYOU!!!
