Phil Lanoue Photography

Woody’s Big Muddy Score

Earlier this month I saw a wood stork snag a fish out of the salt marsh just as the setting sunlight was warming up the scene. Woody walked around, back and forth with his prize but muddied catch, before finally walking back behind the reeds to enjoy his meal in private.

Most herons and egrets will rinse off a fish that was dropped in the mud before eating it, but the wood storks are not quite that discerning.

Angry Eagle

This afternoon a rogue bald eagle entered the marsh area sending our resident eagle pair into a huge frenzy. The male eagle (seen here) took off from his tree screeching like crazy and ran off the intruder. I never knew eagles could make sounds like I heard from this one as he blasted across the sky in full chase mode.

The Lucky Ones

Today is the American holiday of Thanksgiving where the traditional main course generally served is roast turkey. However, here are a few of our local wild turkeys running free who have to consider themselves fortunate right now. 🙂

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in the U.S. that are celebrating on this day!

Grumpy Eagle

We have had nothing but grey, gloomy weather for the past two days and this bald eagle seems to be about as grumpy as the rest of us about it.

“Nice Catch Pal!”

It was a grey and gloomy morning at the marsh pond today but there were quite a few birds out looking for breakfast. At one point a great blue heron flew low over the water and just at that moment a cormorant surfaced with a fresh caught fish. The heron, who seemed to be impressed and possibly a bit envious by his friend’s catch, gave it an admiring glance on his way by.

A Little Late Evening Fishing

I was leaving the salt marsh area recently when I saw this egret doing some late evening fishing. I decided to stop and watch him for a bit to see if he would have any luck. Well it turns out he did because within minutes he plucked himself out a fish and gobbled it down. Always nice to have a snack before turning in for the night!

Osprey Circle And Dive

This past week I was watching an osprey putting in a hard days work in the marsh pond. This is the typical behavior of a hunting osprey…it circles over an area until it spots something interesting in the water below. It then goes into a steep dive, hits the water, and hopefully comes up with a nice fish that it can take into a nearby tree.

Unfortunately the one part of the plan that often goes wrong is that part about catching a fish. It is a skillful and impressive technique that the osprey employs but… success is never guaranteed!

Swamp Babies

By late morning yesterday it started to get fairly warm so I went over to the swamp hoping some alligators might be out doing their usual alligator thing. I had in mind the two babies that I saw last month but didn’t really expect to see them. I was a bit surprised to see one propped up on some reeds and other swamp vegetation, but was even more surprised to see another little head pop up under a leaf which it proceeded to wear like a tiny hat.

Next a third baby suddenly appeared and he went over to join the first one, but they were not done yet. Number four comes slowly creeping around and they start to form a nice little group in that one spot until our little hat wearer joins yet a fifth baby… then they all decide to clump together in one general area. Notice how the leaf remains undisturbed on the little guy’s head throughout the entire process.

I had a tough time trying to shoot this through the weeds and brush at the edge of the swamp, plus there seemed to be almost always something blocking a little face from being clearly viewed.

But in spite of all that, can you spot all five baby heads in the last photo?