“Quick…Look Behind You!!”
Last week we saw this great egret catch itself a nice fish in the salt marsh. Often, after catching the fish, a bird like an egret will take the fish away from the water and deal with it on land. The idea being that should it drop the fish, it won’t be landing in water where it might swim away. The bad part about dropping the fish in the marsh at low tide however is that no bird likes to eat that nasty mud which now coats much of the fish.
This egret was about to have a bigger problem however. A brown pelican had taken notice of the egret and it’s fish and was rapidly closing in from behind. When the pelican arrived, the shocked and surprised egret jumped away from the pelican and also jumped right out of my frame. I ended up clipping the top of it’s head and wings in the third photo.
The egret popped up it’s head feathers, and threw up it’s wings in excitement over the whole event and quickly left the area with it’s prize intact!
Phil Lanoue Photography 
Yeah! For the Egret! What a fun story and great pictures to go with it.
The egret wins one this time! Thanks Judy!
The food chain
Everybody has to eat and they get their food in a variety of ways.
Hello Phil,
that’s an amazing series, stunning pics!
“And the winner is”…….the quickest!!!!
Wish you a nice day,
moni
Thank you moni so glad you liked these photos!
…. Tremendous sequence! I particularly like frames 3 and 5. Frame 3 tells the world that, although a Great Egret has a mighty powerful and sharp beak, he surely won’t want to go beak to beak with a pelican!
…. The comments on Yahoo Europe are currently running 5-7 against — and they haven’t even seen it yet. What morons mortals be 😀
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the egret/pelican sequence! I know the Ayatolla guy on Yahoo UK will not like to see birds.
The fight continues. So glad I don’t have to fight over every bit of food I eat.
That was a young pelican too, usually they more mind their own business.
It’s a tough marsh out there sometimes.
Aside from the fantastic action shots, I liked the close up of the pelican belly. Looks like he’d need quite a few beak-fulls to fill that belly (the usual limerick aside).
Thanks for checking out these pics Gunta!
Those pelicans will often fish for hours to fill them up.
Great jealousy about food. 🙂
They disagree on who owns the food!
Absolutely amazing shots Phil.
Thanks Jan I appreciate it.
Amazing photos! Glad it got to keep its catch.
Thanks much! The egret got lucky this time.
Fantastische Fotos und ich gehe jetzt zum Abendessen 😉
Fisch zum Abendessen?
Vielen Dank für das Betrachten dieser Fotos 🙂
Incredible series Phil. So glad the egret hung on to his lunch! 🙂
Thanks Adrian! Yes the egret came out ahead in this battle. The poor egrets usually lose most fights too. 😦
Fantastic series with a touch of humor! And your Egrets are eating very well lately.
Thanks a lot Molly! The egrets, herons, ibis, and pelicans have been active on either side of low tide lately. I’m hoping it warms up and brings more fish in.
Wonderful images 🙂
Thaks a bunch!
The great escape, if ever I saw one, Phil. That pelican looks to be very close indeed.Good job the egret could execute a spectacular vertical take off. 🙂
That egret did a very quick hop and fly technique which enabled him to keep hhis fish. Gotta be quick out there!
Thanks Sylvia!
That is one talented egret!
Also, I want to live where you live, so much diversity to choose from!
He is a skilled (and lucky) egret. Many times we see them lose a fish. We do get some variety out there. 🙂
Sono senza parole, che scatti spettacolari!!!!
Sono felice che ti piace le foto
Grazie Pat 🙂
I like the way you capture these images – it’s very dramatic!
I was expecting to see the other bird steel that fish but the story turned out differently 😉
The egret was happy I’m sure that it turned out in his favor!
I appreciate you looking and commenting!
Now that’s a great save ! I’m amazed how your camera kept focus throughout this whole event. I’m finding my 500mm/7d set up just doesn’t hone into focus like this whatsoever. HELP !!
Thanks much Emily!
Are you using BBF? I use the * button for focus not the AF On button. Plus I don’t push and hold it, nor do I hit it once and release. I pump the button and constantly re-aquire focus as I’m shooting.
I also hand hold all action and flight shots so that I can freely move with my subjects. Tough to do with a 500 though.
Hope this helps. Zip me an email if you have any questions.
Wonderful shots!!!
Thank you very much for looking!
a great series and quite an amusing story, too 🙂
I appreciate you looking and commenting Sandra!
Well done on catching that sequence 🙂
Thanks, glad you liked these egret shots!
To the winner goes the spoils, er fish.
Yes they have to be on their game out there. You lose a fish and you can go hungry.
Wow, what a great series! Love it. 😉
Hey thanks very much Ruth! Appreciate it!
Una Serie Preciosa, Muy Buena… Un Saludo.
Gracias. Estoy feliz de que te gusta las fotos 🙂
I have missed your posts recently, I have been so sidetracked. Catching up with them now and of course loving every one… and this one is beyond stunning, detail! Great work!!
I’m very happy you enjoyed these photos, thanks!
Of course! Always stunning.
amazing series of photos!
Thanks very much for checking them out Sally!
That fish looks almost like a bird in the last couple of shots. I love those widespread wings, such beauty.
That poor fish had a lot tougher time then the egret! 😯 Their wingspan is deceptively large. They don’t look that big just standing there but they are a good size bird.