Popular Spot
Two days ago this stump out in the salt marsh seemed to be *the* hot spot for several of the wading birds. First it was claimed by an egret who stood there for a while watching his friend fish. Then he was evicted by a different egret who immediately attracted the attention of a great blue heron.
Well naturally the heron wanted the stump, if for no other reason then he didn’t want the egret to have it. However, the blue heron could not quite fit properly standing at the very top the way the egret did, so he moved down to the lower level where he proceeded to watch an egret fish.
This did not prove to be quite as exciting as the heron hoped and he quickly became bored and as you can see in the 13 second video below, he left the area to pursue some excitement elsewhere.
Phil Lanoue Photography 
Looks like everyone had a try at ‘king of the mountain’. What goofy birds.
Yes indeed they were playing King of the Mountain! Those guys can be more then a little goofy at times.
The stump is not always greener! Lesson learned (maybe). 🙂
They do this kind of thing often… I don’t really want that spot but I don’t want the other guy to have it either.
Like people… lol
Heh heh, oh absolutely!
Nice pictures, atleast it looks warm there.
It was perfect here for a few days, temps in the 80sF with bright sun and no humidity. But then got cold today. Well…cold for us.
Exellent ♥
Danke!
Well done
Thanks so much for looking!
Silly boys! Loved that short vid. 🙂
They are quite silly indeed! Glad you enjoyed the short flight vid!
What a dog in the manger! Great to see you back, Phil!
Well I’m happy to be back Maggie and appreciate you checking out the latest story from the marsh! 🙂
Thanks so much for the GBH video, Phil. 🙂 When I was a kid, we had a rhyme which we chanted at our opponents in a game. “I’m the king of the castle and you’re the dirty rascal. ” Your pics reminded me of this. 😀
Well those goofy birds are like a bunch of kids out there sometimes, and at least as comical to observe.
Thanks for checking this out Sylvia and glad you liked that short flight vid.
Now the sea gulls scene from the movie “Nemo” won’t leave my head: “Mine…mine…mine…mine…mine!” …By the way, just noticing based on your narration of time – that not 2 days after you posted how horribly sick you were, you were right back on the marsh to capture the hilarity of these birds. Whatever happened to easing back in?!
Guilty as charged. I was *supposed* to take it easy and ease back in and in fact my wife came close to hiding the car keys on me. But… I went out anyway even though I shouldn’t have. Oh well, I’m a bad boy sometimes.
I stayed in yesterday though. 🙂 Today, well, it’s still early. 🙂
That is awesome! [I almost chocked on my candy laughing.] I guess here’s to being resolved – note, I didn’t say stubbornness – and great photos! My best to your patient and loving wife.
Oh no! There certainly could not possibly be any stubbornness involved on my part. Heh heh
Great images as usual and i like the Mutual of Omaha clip at the end 🙂 Actually most of their stuff was not quite this good.
Hey thanks a million for the kind comments Victor, I’m really happy you enjoyed seeing the pics and short vid clip!
Wacky group out there. 🙂
Il ceppo della discordia ahahhaha. Bellissimi scatti Phil, complimenti!!
Ciao, Pat
Hey Grazie Pat! 🙂
Hope the excitement was a better fishing spot.
That’s what heron must have been hoping because he wasn’t catching anything.
There were a few egrets all plucking out stuff but our GBH friend got skunked.
Popular stump indeed. We still have a wait before the long-legged folks return, so it was nice to enjoy the video.
Well if you stop and think about it… that is a pretty nice looking stump. 🙂
Thanks for checking these out Steve.
Looks very much like a playground turf war:) Thanks for today’s photographic entertainment, Phil! Loved the video clip!
Ha! It really is a playground turf war! And as usual Mr. GBH gets his way. Well…until the alligators show up.
Thanks, I’m glad you liked the pics and vid clip!
Pretty bizarre to think they fight over a stump so they could watch someone fish! No wonder you like to watch their antics – you never know what’s coming. And that’s when the gator clears it out.
The funny thing is that the stupid stump is always there and 99% of the time they ignore it. But once one bird decides that’s the place to be then they all have to take a turn standing on it even if it means evicting a current occupant.
It would actually be a pretty good spot for a bird to stand and watch an alligator from the relative safety of the penthouse suite.
I was smiling. Two images down it looks like the heron is plotting. Three images down he looks embarrassed. Four images down he looks disgusted. What a range of emotion – great captures. We have that up here too, a popular log they all want. I am going to have to pay more attention to all the birds playing musical log.
What makes the whoe situation even more comical and bewildering is how these birds can fish in the same area all the time and pay no attention to this stump or any other perch. But then one day they all decide they just *have* to stand on it. Once one does, they all have too. 🙂 A real flock mentality at work.
I would love to spend a day shooting down there. what a beautiful set of photos!
It is a fun and interesting location. We have the salt marsh just across from a large marsh pond, plus the beach and swamp areas so several different environments all close together.
Glad you enjoyed the photos!
VG example of the rivalry (friendly??) between egrets and herons – maybe a kind of co-dependence… RH
Sometimes they can all fish and get along just fine, other times one cannot tolerate the mere presence of another.
It can be fun to observe the different behavior and personalities of the various species.