Location Based Anecdotes, With Google Maps Or Street View "proof"

I hope that all of you know that one of the best tools for sales is "location, location, location". Always tag scenic photos with the location! I think JC has a name for this, it's his "law", perhaps the Abilene Effect, or some such.

Anyway, the intent of this thread is to tell a brief location based story, and post the location as a link in google street view or maps, or whatever.

So here's mine:

Nature Facility and Covered Boat Dock at Lake Fausse Pointe State Park, 5400 Levee Rd, St. Martinville, Louisiana, which is deep in the heart of Cajun country.

The J shaped building is a covered boat dock along the arc, and a nature center on the cap of the J. The nature center hangs hummingbird feeders, and the location is evidently a major "choke point" in the migration of male ruby throat hummingbirds. I was there April 15, 2005, and there was quite a mob of hummingbirds at the 5 or so feeders hung above the boat dock. I got permission to lower one of the feeders, and then replace it with my own "studio feeder", with just one feeder port. I rarely see migrating hummer males at home, because in the spring, I was usually in Arizona, photographing other species. So this was a great opportunity for me to get some high quality hummingbird close ups. I was setting up my rather elaborate outdoor studio, with a cardboard background attached to one of the vertical posts that supported the roof, and a tripod for the camera, and a tripod for each of my 3 Canon 550 ex flashes (one a master flash, with an extension cable that let me get it off of the hot shoe.) And perhaps a tripod for the feeder, or perhaps the feeder was hung from the rope that suspended the park's feeder. (Don't remember.)
My feeder had a perch ring, and 2 of the 3 feeder ports were taped shut.

Anyway, back to the story. The roof of the boat dock provided good shad in the afternoon, which is essential for high speed flash photography of hummingbirds. It can be quite a tangle of tripod legs, because feeder camera, and strobe lights are all maybe a foot from the bird at 1/128th power, for the shortest flash exposure, at f16. These days I would boost ISO over 100 as needed for F22, for more DOF.

Now the fun begins. I'm still setting up all this gear around noon, and a boy walked up to me and told me there was a hummingbird struggling in the water. I went to take a look, and sure enough, about 6 feet from the dock, there's a male ruby throat, struggling in the water. He won't survive without rescue. I quickly remove shoes and wallet, and cell phone, and jump in feet first, with my best life-saving jump, giving a strong kick to keep my head above water. A stroke or two later, and I can grab the bird. I struggle back onto the boat dock, and take the bird to a tree, which you can see near the intersection of the J and the bar on top of the J. I placed him on a low branch, and removed some seaweed that had entangled him. About 15 minutes later, he was dry and flew away. One male hummer looks much like another, but I like to think that maybe this was the bird, modeling for me in gratitude. I've Photoshopped out the feeder and perch, but you can see his feet extended, ready to grasp the perch when he landed.

OK, cool so far, but perhaps a bit boring. Here's a photo from the session:


At the end of the day, when tearing down my equipment, I noticed a sign I wish I would have photographed, high above the boat dock:
Do NOT feed the Gators!


I'm glad I didn't.