Grace is in the eye of camera

You know how those airplanes shoot out of the airport and then make a sharp turn to avoid making a lot of noise over a residential area. That's kind of what the Great Egret on the left is doing. After taking off, he is trying to bank away from the dock and out over the water. Of course, noise is not an issue for this 10-foot-wing-span bird -- they move as noiselessly through the air as a feather moves down a stream.

The fellow on the right however, is trying to look as graceful as he can, clinging to a boom. I suppose he can't hang on by facing perpendicular to the pipe because it its too slippery to hold on to. So he chooses the parallel method, bending both knees out to try to get some opposible pressure to keep him up. Luckily it was near night fall with little wind.

The Photo is from the area of Des Allemands -- a community Southeast of New Orleans in the bayou country.

--steve buser

Bayou Des Allemands fills birders needs

Bayou Des Allemands is a birder's paradise. The bayou flow from Lac Des Allemands through the town of Des Allemand and into Lake Salvador. I pulled off at Des Allemand and cross back over the Old Spanish Trail bridge, winding my way over the rail road tracks to Up the Bayou Road. (Down the Bayou Road looks like a good birding spot, also, but I didn't have time this trip.)

Along the road, houses on one side and the bayou and fishing piers were lines on the other side.

Large Great Egrets and Blue Herons gracefully swept down the bayou from one perch to another as night fill began to descend. This Great Egret seem curious as to what I was doing, but not curious enough to hang around. He looked as though he were announcing the imminent arrival of the moon.

The moist smell of the bayou and the cool are of a passing warm front made a perfect time to sit by the side of the road and shoot.

It is a time of day when the birds return to their roost, bellies full and in no particular hurry.

--steve buser