Phil Lanoue Photography

Afternoon Eagle Plus Bonus Alligator!

This afternoon we were about to leave when we spotted this bald eagle sitting in a pine tree at the side edge of the salt marsh. I stayed with him until he jumped off, left the tree, and flew back out across the marsh.

But…earlier in the morning…I saw this alligator gliding along very slowly in the swamp. It was a warm day today and there were a few alligators out and about including some babies! More on them tomorrow. 🙂

Got Wet, But Didn’t Get A Fish

This past weekend I was watching an osprey hunting fish in the marsh pond. At one point he dove down and hit the water hard and it took him a couple of seconds to begin to emerge. At first only his head and wings came up as he struggled to get airborne again. I expected to see a fish in his talons but as the osprey cleared the water I saw that he came up empty this time. The osprey had only wet feathers to show for this dive, and I can’t be certain, but it seemed to me that he had a look of disgust on his face as he took off out of the water.

Because You Might Miss Them…Spoonbill Portraits

It’s only been a little over a week since the spoonbills have moved on and left our marsh but I miss them already and thought you might as well.

So I thought I would post these never before seen portraits of our pink friend taken on a beautiful late evening back in August. As winter begins to arrive in many places I hope these images will bring back pleasant memories of warm summer nights to some of you as it does to me.

Introducing The Lovely Mrs. A

This is from last month over at the swamp when I was surprised to see two baby alligators out at that time of year. We normally would see alligator babies in mid to late summer, not in mid October.

I first spotted the babies swimming around in the muck and duck weed by themselves and was concerned over where mom might be. Within minutes I saw an alligator crawl up out of the swamp nearby where I was standing. The gator kind of hesitated for a moment and settled down where it began to really give me the eye. Soon it turned around, went back down into the swamp and glided over near where I had seen the two babies.

I quickly realized that I had just met mom, and she did not look tremendously thrilled to see me. She swam over to the general location of the babies and I hoped they would swim over to her and possibly even crawl up onto her head. But soon after they saw mom gliding over, both babies quickly swam back into the reeds and disappeared. I suspect she sent them off to keep them safe because right after that she turned and decided to deal with me.

Mom started patrolling the area right in front of where I was standing and I had the distinct impression that she wanted me to leave. When she suddenly lifted up her head, made a loud grunting sound and bashed it back down into the water with a big splash I got the message. I left Mrs. A and her children alone which I’m sure was the wise choice for all involved, but it was quite interesting and exciting to see her protective behavior in action.

Eel Time

This afternoon we were watching this white ibis furiously picking around in the mud in the salt marsh at low tide for some tasty eel snacks. We saw him catch three or four and it was rather comical to watch the ibis attempt to deal with a wriggling eel that, of course, did not wish to be swallowed. After several minutes the ibis was finally able to subdue the slippery catch and get it down the throat.

This ibis was out with two of his friends but they were completely disinterested in snacking on eels which clearly must be an acquired taste!

“Can I Play Too?!”

Mr. Alligator would like to join in on the fun with a group of wood storks in the salt marsh, but I’m not too sure they want a new playmate…

Active Day

Bright sun and warm temps. combined to make it an active morning and afternoon at the marsh today and…included a first!

The osprey was having luck fishing and he even got to keep his fish this time. Mister Alligator was making a rare November appearance no doubt taking advantage of the sunny day. The eagle was patrolling his marsh as usual keeping an eye on things and likely hoping he would have a chance to jump an osprey. The great blue heron ‘Flasher’ was at it again putting on a show for all the nature lovers. A wood stork jumped off from the salt marsh after taking advantage of some tasty fish which were available at low tide.

And we had our first ever sighting of a large red octopus which was spotted floundering around among the oyster beds in the salt marsh. We had never seen one before anywhere in the marsh so it was quite exciting! We were initially concerned that it would get trapped in the shallow water at low tide but as the tide began to come in the octopus disappeared from sight and hopefully made it’s way back to the ocean.

Don’t Give Me That Cute Innocent Look!

This afternoon several ospreys were out working the marsh pond heavy trying to catch fish. They kept returning to grab another fish because the eagle was also out waiting for any opportunity to snatch the fish away from the ospreys. The poor ospreys maybe got to keep one fish out of every three they caught.

I spotted this sneaky individual standing in a pine tree trying to look all innocent as if it was thinking…”who could possibly ever suspect cute little me would steal a fish away from some osprey?!” Well about a minute after I took the tree photos, Mr. Innocent took off across the marsh like his tail was on fire after an osprey that had just plucked out a fish.

Cute? Well maybe. Innocent? I don’t think so!