Phil Lanoue Photography

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.

Mrs. Merganser and Friend

This past week I was surprised to see this solitary female merganser duck picking around among the duckweed in the swamp. I usually see mergansers in pairs or small groups, rarely alone. But it turns out that Mrs. Merganser was not alone…she had a turtle friend sitting on a log out there also enjoying the late morning sun!

Too Close

One of the standard wildlife photographer laments is that the subjects just are not close enough. I myself have been in that situation many times where I wish I could move in closer, I wish the animal would come in closer, or I wish I had a much longer lens.

However that was not the case yesterday afternoon when seemingly out of nowhere an osprey with a fresh caught fish came suddenly swooping in right over my head. The only problem for me was that he was too close! As you can see I clipped the wings off of the osprey with my camera lens as I was taking the overhead flight shots.

I suppose I can’t complain too much though, at least I did get an up close and personal view of a very cool bird!

Man Of Mystery

Just prior to sunset yesterday in the salt marsh, a great blue heron was striking a mysterious looking pose with just his face being lit by the last bit of sunshine falling on the reeds.

Snowys Being Snowys

Yesterday afternoon a couple of snowy egrets were among the crowd over in the salt marsh during low tide. But of course, as is typical of snowys, they are rarely capable of getting along with one another.

When this one aggressive snowy arrived he proceeded to run off his friend that was quietly feeding and minding his own business. Naturally that was not enough, he couldn’t just run off the other snowy, he had to turn it into and full out airborne chase across the marsh.

Once he was satisfied that he successfully managed to claim sole ownership of the fishing spot, it was time for a well deserved fluff up to congratulate himself on a job well done!

Just Passing By

Earlier this week I looked up just in time to see this white ibis come flying in from back in the salt marsh. I managed to click off one frame and one frame only, and this was it. Looking at the photo later I was taken by the elegant simplicity of the scene, combined with the peculiar yet extraordinary look of the bird. With that impossible long curved orange bill, bright blue eyes, and large white wings with black tips, the ibis is indeed a wonder of nature.

I often see ibis quietly going about their daily business but it’s worthwhile I feel to stop occasionally and take a moment to notice and enjoy the unique and interesting wildlife that can be found in nature.

Full Steam Ahead!

I went over to the swamp yesterday with the idea of looking for alligators and although I did see mom and a couple of her babies, they were tucked back deep in the reeds and were clearly not planning to make themselves available for photo ops.

As usual, there were quite a few coots out picking at the various aquatic vegetation not bothering anyone at all. However, I did take notice of this one coot that was floating quietly and basically minding it’s own business because I also saw that another coot was approaching rapidly from the side. I knew the first coot immediately noticed the advancing intruder because it whipped it’s head around to the left as the second coot came blasting in.

This bird was really moving and went into full pursuit mode in what I suspect was a territorial dispute. He launched himself up and out in a flying run across the water, and with a huge splash and managed to chase off his competitor who can be seen in the very bottom of the last photo as it rapidly departs the area.