Phil Lanoue Photography

“Hey, Nice Splash!”

An alligator this past weekend was having some fun in the water jumping around and making a big splash! The fish however were not having near as much fun…

Yesterday evening we were watching this spoonbill feeding in the salt marsh between the oyster beds. A favorite food of the spoonbills are these tiny transparent glass shrimp that are often brought in with the tide. At one point spoonie got into a whole mess of the shrimp and they reacted by jumping out of the water and away from the pink predator. The spoonbill had the shrimp on the run and spoonie was on the chase as he followed them along the shallow water gobbling them up as he ran!

“Those Little Things Are SO Annoying!”

This is the bald eagle from last week that some of you may remember seeing jumping off from the pine tree and flying off across the marsh. Prior to him leaving however, he was buzzed and annoyed by a persistent pair of mockingbirds that just would not leave the poor eagle alone. I don’t know if they had a nest nearby, but the mockingbirds kept pestering the eagle who tried at first to ignore the little birds but the tiny mockingbirds were determined to give the bald eagle a hard time.

In the first three photos you can see one of the mockingbirds perching on branches next to the eagle and in photo #3 it pecked the eagle on the head. In photos 4 and 5 you can see the pair buzzing around the eagle which definitely further annoyed him so he decided to move over to a different section of the tree as can be seen in photos 6 and 7. That tactic failed to produce the desired effect as in photo 8 the mockingbird can be seen perched right above the eagle’s head. The exasperated bald eagle voiced his displeasure before finally leaving the area entirely which was the theme of last week’s post. 🙂

“What Are You Looking at?!?”

Looking at this alligator and egret from last week…I’m not sure if the egret can’t believe what he is seeing or if the alligator can’t believe this goofy egret is giving him the close up hard stare.

Both, however, seem surprised to be almost nose to beak though. 🙂

Flying Fish

Our good buddy Mr. A was having himself a fun time in the salt marsh last night. He was sloshing around in a land locked pool of water that was created by the low tide. A lot of fish were trapped in there and Mr. A knew it. Here he was banging his nose against the edge of the pool after herding a group of fish into a corner. The panicked fish were jumping all over in an attempt to escape the hungry alligator. A few lucky fish managed to survive and lived to tell the tale and swim another day!

Evening Flight

It was quite active in the salt marsh this evening…we had Mr. A in a feeding frenzy scooping up mouthfuls of fish with some wood storks happily picking up the panicked strays, plus some egret and ibis altercations. Photos on all that action will be upcoming.

Here is a great blue heron flight across the marsh. This bird was beating a hasty retreat after being jumped by another GBH that wanted him out of the area.

Afternoon Fishing

This afternoon we were watching this tricolored heron patiently fishing in the salt marsh. The little tri was really concentrating on catching a fish and I saw him strike at the water several times with no luck. The tide was coming in quickly now and the heron knew it had to act quickly or the water would get too high for a small wader such as him and he would be forced to move on.

Finally he hit the jackpot! On the last strike I saw him make, he came up with a good size fish, bigger then the tiny minnows it usually catches. So on this afternoon the patience and diligence of the tricolored paid off and he got himself a nice meal!

Still Learning

It was grey, overcast and kind of a quiet morning over at the salt marsh today. We saw a pair of adult bald eagles but they stayed on the far back edge, while an immature eagle was busy very high up shadowing an osprey. The osprey didn’t have a fish, the young eagle was likely just practicing being an annoyance to the osprey. Many wood storks were out flying in all directions along with some ibis and snowy egrets.

We did however see this juvenile night heron busy in the mud flats at low tide snatching up some tiny crabs which were skittering about the area. Crabs are among the favorite food of night herons but this youngster has to start somewhere and soon it will be going after the larger crabs as it ages and gains more experience.