Field Trip Schedule and Info

2025 Field Trips

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Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge and
Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge Field Trip

Saturday February 15, 2025

Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge
Pintail Loop
E Cameron Prairie Rd
Bell City, LA  70630

Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge
Creole, LA  70632
29.98220° N, 92.89463° W

This field trip will be a joint adventure with the Lafayette Photographic Society and I have been in close communication with Ken Eyster who is a member of the Lafayette club and an experienced birder. He has suggested that we meet at Pintail Loop at 8:00 AM in the parking area where we will meet with the other club’s members and possibly carpool to navigate the loop. It can sometimes be foggy early on which may delay our departure, but we will plan to drive the 3-mile loop twice giving everyone a chance to get some great images. The lower loop usually offers the best morning light and birds.

From there we will work our way eastward towards the Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge, but our route may be circuitous in search of Sandhill Cranes. We will be flexible because Ken will do some reconnoitering to help to improve our chances of photographing the cranes. 

In any case, we will end up on the Illinois Plant Road along the Lacassine Pool to continue to capture photos of waterfowl.

It is about a 2+ hour drive to Pintail Loop and in order to get there by 8:00 AM we will meet on Saturday February 15th at Coffee Call on College Drive at 5:30 AM and depart at 6:00 AM sharp (or slightly before). From Coffee Call we will proceed west on I-10 for less than 2 hours and take Exit 48, (Highway 101) where we will go south to Hwy 14 and West to Hwy 27 and south to Pintail Loop.

Please plan to bring a lunch, snacks and water for the trip in that restaurant availability will be dicey at best. 

February is the perfect time of year to photograph migratory waterfowl in Southwest Louisiana making the Cameron/Lacassine Field Trip a club favorite. This field trip will provide an excellent opportunity to sharpen up your skills with longer telephoto lenses such as prime lenses in the 300 mm to 600 mm range as well as the popular zoom lenses that range from 150 mm at the wide end to 600 mm at the long end. Support of long telephoto lenses to create sharp images can always present a challenge, however this field trip will allow you to work with your tripods, monopods and gimbal heads and even bean bags perched on the window sill of your vehicles. Also, don’t forget about hand holding of your telephoto lenses utilizing a fast shutter speed to capture birds in flight. Wide angle zoom lenses can also be used on this field trip to take landscape photographs of the beautiful marshland in Southwest Louisiana.

Speaking of landscape photography, don’t forget to bring your neutral density and circular polarizing filters both of which are excellent choices around water.

Be sure to dress in warm clothing with a hat and gloves for shooting opportunities outside of your vehicle and use sunscreen to protect exposed skin. 

The material for each Show and Tell session will be taken from the photos uploaded to the Visual Pursuit’s Field Trip Gallery. Therefore, please upload about five photos.

For questions please reach out to me.

Thanks,
Frank


To attend, please sign up in Visual Pursuits and plan to upload photos into the Field Trip Gallery.

Please sign up in Visual Pursuits and plan to upload a few photos to the field trip gallery.



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Field trip dates may be subject to change depending on several factors, including – but not limited to – weather, illness, site closure, etc. The field trip coordinator will keep registrants apprised of any changes that occur. Please refer to the Newsletter, Calendar, and this page for reference.