Phil Lanoue Photography

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!

Liftoff!

This morning I was surprised to see a brown pelican fishing in the marsh pond. Must mean colder weather is on the way, which will surely result in our last remaining pair of spoonbills leaving us any day now to make their way south for the winter.

Quick Departure

Two nights ago I saw this great egret in the marsh pond silhouetted by warm setting sunlight. He seemed to be relaxing and just taking in the sights when suddenly he got quite a bit agitated. He started squawking at someone or something and quickly left the area. I never saw what it was that got the egret all riled up but I suspect that as usual, it’s another egret all the way on the other side of the pond that needs to immediately be chased off…

A Young Mr. Cranky?!?

Earlier this week I was watching a juvenile spoonbill and white ibis feeding together in the salt marsh and they seemed to be getting along just fine. Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, the spoonbill just reached over and snapped at the leg of the ibis! The ibis appeared quite startled by this unprovoked act and quickly moved over and got out of the spoonie’s way. The spoonbill however went right back to feeding as if the whole thing never happened.

This immediately reminded me of a certain other grumpy individual who has been well known to nip at another bird’s tail or leg with no provocation. So could this be a future Mr. Cranky in the making?! I plan to keep a very close eye on this young upstart. 🙂

Time Lapse Over The Marsh Pond

Here is a 23 second time lapse of evening clouds and sunset taken tonight at the marsh pond.

Also a still photo taken about five minutes after sunset.

Mister Cool

Alligator season is winding down here along our marsh and most have begun to tuck themselves away as the weather gets cooler. But yesterday late afternoon, who do I see lounging in the soft weeds at the edge of the pond?!? Why of course it’s out old pal Mr. A making a November personal appearance!

He was all settled in when I first spotted him and was looking cool and casual as usual, but about an hour later he decided to slide into the water and patrol the area along the pond’s edge. As the evening got later and the sun began to set, you can see the water developing just a tinge of pink in the third photo. That would ultimately turn red and provide a warm and colorful sunset over the marsh pond. At this point I was hoping Mr. Cool would glide on over into the red and gold water because he always looks so good lit that way, but he choose to remain close by me there the edge of the pond as I took the sunset photo.

And yes there were still two spoonbills that showed up in the salt marsh around this time and I do have photos of them but I thought it prudent and appropriate to give Mr. A some well deserved screen time today. Look for more photos of our goofy pink friends in the next day or so. 🙂

“I Thought The Fish Here Were Fresh!”

Yesterday afternoon I was watching this great blue heron fishing in the salt marsh. I saw him strike at the water a few times and come up empty, but finally he caught himself a nice fish. At least it looked like a nice fresh fish to me, but not sure how the heron felt about it.

Soon after swallowing that fish he walked back to the edge of the water and tucked himself back into the reeds. He then fluffed himself up in an odd way and had a strange look on his face. So maybe the fish didn’t go down so well, and was possibly causing a bit of indigestion? I’m not sure, but I also could not figure out what he was looking at in that last photo…perhaps help and guidance from above? 🙂