Tours & Instruction
We offer birds-in-flight and wildlife photography tours and private instruction. On our tours, you may see bald eagles, ospreys, owls, herons, kingfishers, hawks, kestrels, egrets, ibis, monkeys, bears & other wildlife.
Your tour guide, Dick Vautrinot, is an avid wildlife photographer with a passion for birds in flight. A self-taught photographer who created his own style of tracking birds, exposure and use of light. By way of owning a nuisance wildlife business, he gained extensive expertise and knowledge of wildlife and their breeding habits. With over 45 yrs of boat and guiding experience, you will be in the
right light to capture great images of "birds-in-flight".
Join us for a photography tour or camera instruction!
Bald Eagle & Raptor Tour - Gainesville, Florida
Available Dates: Year-Round
Join us to photograph bald eagles, raptors and shorebirds on a beautiful "Old Florida" lake with picturesque backdrops. Bald eagles in Florida return to their nest territory on our lake in the fall to begin nest building. Their breeding season extends to late April or May when young are learning to fly and hunt. Our lake has resident eagles that stay year-round. Ospreys arrive back on the lake in February and the aerial battles begin with the eagles attempting to steal the fish from the ospreys. The lake has an abundance of bald eagles, ospreys, owls, herons, kingfishers, hawks, kestrels, woodpeckers, egrets, ibis and other shorebirds. Tours are aboard our 24 ft. pontoon boat. For an additional charge, Dick can help with manual camera settings and birds-in-flight instruction.
Pricing:
Half-day | 3 1/2 - 4 hours
$200 per person ($250 Feb to May)
$350 per person with instruction
Full-day | 7 - 8 hours
$400 per person
$500 (Feb to May)
Minimum 2 people on tours
Swallow-tailed Kite Tour - Deland, Florida
Available Dates: July 11 to July 18 2023
Join us to photograph over 5000 Swallow-tailed kites in a couple of hundred-yard area on a lake in Deland, Florida. Tours are aboard our 2019 24 ft. 200 hp pontoon boat. It's Audubon's most beautiful bird of prey, with its deeply forked tail and bold black-and-white plumage, it is unmistakable in the summer skies. (Of course, Dick would say after the Bald Eagle!) Hanging motionless in the air, swooping and gliding, rolling upside down and then zooming
high in the air with scarcely a motion of its wings, the
Swallow-tailed Kite is a joy to watch. We hope you can join us.
Pricing:
Morning Tour | 3 hrs
$275 per person
Minimum 2 people
Camera Instruction - Florida
Available Dates: Year-Round
Camera instruction is designed to help you create a customized plan to improve your photography skills in the use of light, tracking birds, manual camera settings, preparation and framing of the shot.
Join Dick for a day full of learning and fun!
Pricing:
Includes a Boat Tour
Half day - 4 hrs
$550 per person
Osprey Tour on Blue Cypress Lake - Vero Beach, Florida
Available Dates: May 8th to May 18th 2023
Join us on an adventure to photograph nesting ospreys, many at eye level, on one of the most scenic lakes in Florida. Blue Cypress Lake has about 500 ospreys, a few eagles, owls, peregrine falcons and about every shorebird. A birding paradise with amazing sunrises and non-stop osprey action with babies on every nest. Tours are aboard 24 ft. pontoon boat. For an additional charge, Dick will help with manual camera settings and birds in flight instructions. We hope you can join us for a day full of fun!
Pricing:
Half-day (morning) | 3 hours usually longer to shoot some owls! $375 per person | Minimum 2 people
