Phil Lanoue Photography

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!

The Last Spoonbill?

I knew we would be getting a two day cold front moving into the area starting Tuesday night, so Tuesday afternoon we went out hoping to catch a glimpse of a spoonbill for what could very likely turn out to be the last sighting of the year. We found one far off in a back out of the way corner of the marsh pond and I grabbed a couple of documentation shots just to have for the dated files. I assumed I would have to content myself with just those file photos because there was no way I could get closer for better shots.

It was not long however before we were shocked to see the spoonie take off and start flying right at us! It did a circle glide almost directly over our heads then headed off across the marsh. It was almost as if it did a ceremonial fly by salute on it’s way further south for the winter The fifth photo here is a ‘butt shot’ and the final photo I took of not just this spoonbill but quite possibly the final spoonbill photo of 2013.

We searched Wednesday and today and did not see any spoonies at all so this could most certainly be the end of our run. If that’s the case we are all thrilled because it was the best summer ever for our pink friends since they first started arriving in the marsh area in 2009.

If I do happen to see another spoonbill in the next few days I will post photos and then have to do another “Last Spoonbill” post. 🙂

American White Pelicans

Last week I was quite surprised to see a small group of white pelicans come gliding in from the ocean side and head out over the salt marsh. I say surprised because the American White Pelican is not a very common bird for our area. We are much more likely to see the brown pelican. The white pelican is a very large bird and has the second largest wing span of any bird in the United States, only the California Condor has a bigger wing span.

This group took a nice wide circle over the marsh pond providing me with some excellent views, before finally heading off into the sun.

Sometimes You Get One…Somtimes You Don’t

The bald eagle wasn’t the only bird out yesterday morning plucking things out of the marsh pond…there were also several ospreys working the area as well! I saw ospreys hit the water a few times and come up empty, but in general they have a pretty good success rate.

But I guess that’s why they call it fishing and not catching, you don’t always get a fish every time you try, but you still keep going out there!

The Morning Hunter

This morning I spotted a bald eagle gliding across the marsh and I kept watching him as he started swooping low over the pond. Even though earlier I had seen a raft of mixed ducks out in the pond, I gave little thought to them as I assumed the eagle was looking for a fish. But when the eagle did a strafing run over the ducks I quickly identified his target…

Bald eagles will often hover and dive down toward ducks scattering them and causing them to submerge themselves under the water, providing what the ducks hope will be safety from attack. But…they can’t stay under very long and the eagle knows this quite well.

The eagle’s tactic here is to isolate an individual from the group and try to time a dive exactly right to hit the water just as the hapless bird surfaces. After a couple of failed attempts, the bald eagle splashed down and managed to pluck itself out a nice plump coot for breakfast. The intrepid hunter kept a tight grip on the coot as it flew back out toward the salt marsh with it’s prize!