Phil Lanoue Photography

Great Blue Heron At Sunset

Just as we were leaving the marsh pond this evening, we stopped to admire this great blue heron silhouetted by warm sunset lighting.

Nice Neck

Great Blue Herons normally fly with their necks folded and tucked in. But this GBH went for the full stretched out look as it flew above the marsh pond yesterday morning.

This morning over at the marsh pond, we were surprised and treated to a visit by an American White Pelican! Earlier in the month we had a good size group of these big white birds visit the pond but today there was just this one. The pelican floated around in the pond for about an hour before finally flying off to it’s next destination.

In the flight photo you can see how impressive the wing span is of the white pelican. In the United States, it’s second only to the California Condor in terms of wing size.

We are hoping that this bird returns soon and brings along a bunch of friends!

Great Blue Heron Fly By

Earlier this fall I watched this great blue heron glide along just above the marsh pond. Look who is visible in the background peeking his head up in the water. 🙂

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the marsh and best wishes for a healthy happy New Year!

You Know Him…You Love Him…You Miss Him…

I thought at this time of year, it might be nice to revisit our favorite grumpy pink bird from this past summer. In these never before seen photos from a warm morning in August, we have the salt marsh resident spoonbill starting right off giving us his best “I’m so cute” look.

As he continues his patrol among the oyster beds he stops to snatch up a tiny glass shrimp while an ibis nabs himself a small crab. A great blue heron casts a wary eye on our pink friend until finally it’s time for spoonie to leave and continue on with his day.

I hope you enjoyed this look back at some summer moments from the salt marsh!

A Friendly Visit

I wasn’t the only one that noticed this alligator relaxing on a mud bog in the swamp. A pair of coots showed up and decided to get out of the water as well and join our gator friend. At first the coots appeared a little confused and did not seem to be sure what to make of this funny looking ‘log’ that was just laying there. However they quickly became rather excited which attracted the attention of a third coot that came floating over to see what all the fuss was about.

Notice how the alligator does his best to completely ignore the coots throughout the entire event. He was likely just hoping for a quiet morning so he could get in a nice nap but instead had to contend with yacking coots creating an unwanted commotion!

Time To Leave

Recently I was watching this bald eagle sitting in a pine tree, and I suspected he had other business to take care of and would soon be leaving his tree. Once I saw the ‘look’ I knew he was planning to jump off, so I grabbed a few quick shots as he left the area.