Phil Lanoue Photography
I previously worked as a news and sports photographer. Recently I have been enjoying wildlife photography. My approach toward bird photos is similar to sports photography. I attempt to capture mostly action and hopefully a unique perspective.
The Lazy Gator
Earlier this week a young alligator was floating around in the salt marsh and I was surprised to see him not wildly sloshing after the fish like they normally do. This one just seemed to be taking it easy, gliding in and around the dried reeds and enjoying a relaxing swim. He did make a few minor grabs at some fish and swallowed a bunch at one point but I knew what he was doing, he was employing the lazy gator method of fishing. He would lay there with the bottom portion of his mouth open under the water and if some poor unfortunate fish happened to swim in well… that was fine, but this boy was not going to put a lot of effort into it at all.
Bath Time For Spoonie
Yesterday afternoon we saw this spoonbill in the marsh pond who decided it was the perfect time to take a nice bath. It splashed around in the water for a while then proceeded to dry off it’s wings and preen it’s feathers. I think he cleaned up quite nicely! 🙂
“What Is That Thing?!?”
This afternoon I was watching an alligator hunting in a small pool of water formed by low tide in the salt marsh. At one point an egret showed up and it seemed to be trying to figure out exactly what this big thing was lying there in the water. I was a bit surprised by the egret’s behavior as I expect it has seen gators many times but it’s possible this one is a new arrival to the marsh and has no prior alligator experience.
About two hours later a couple of spoonbills also arrived at the salt marsh. This one young spoonbill was particularly fascinated with the alligator, it kept walking along next to the gator, and was checking it out from different angles. I’m willing to bet this spoonie never has seen an alligator before and really was trying to determine what the heck it was.
In any case the alligator ignored both birds and just went about it’s business hunting for a lunch of fish and crabs.
“Nice Tail”
Well at least that’s what I told this rather large alligator that was slogging through the mud among the oyster beds in the salt marsh recently. He really looked like he meant business, so what else would I tell him?!? 🙂
Wood Storks Do Not Like Helicopters!
Yesterday evening there was a large group of wood storks sitting in pine trees along the edge of the salt marsh. Looking north along the coast I could see two big helicopters approaching from off in the distance and I knew what that meant. The wood storks heard the helicopters way before I did and as is the usual case, they flew off in a total panic as the choppers got closer. Wood Storks are absolutely terrified of helicopters and will always immediately leave as a group at the first sign of one flying into their area. Most of the other birds including the spoonbills, do not seem to care at all and basically ignore all close flying aircraft.
I knew there was one young spoonbill in among the wood storks back in the trees and it took off with the storks probably confused about why we all had to suddenly leave in a huge panic. But the spoonbill figured there must be a good reason so it went along with the crowd. I keyed in on the spoonie as it flew off along with the storks and followed the youngster as it flew across the pines.
He’s Still Here!
Well at the risk of boring everyone with yet another series of our favorite solitary spoonbill, I felt compelled to post these photos today. We hadn’t seen Mr. Grumpy in a couple of days and I began to get concerned that perhaps he had left us to spread joy and cheer at a different marsh. So last night we went out hoping to see our cranky friend but what we initially saw instead was a few juvenile spoonbills in the salt marsh. However, when we saw one spoonie and one spoonie only, fly into the pond we suspected it could be our resident loner and sure enough it was!
Once we got into a location with a good view of him that’s when the fun started. It’s possible he missed us too because he began to put on a show unlike anything I had ever seen. He kept raising up his wings and prancing around in all directions making sure everyone had a great look at his bright pink plumage. He walked forward, then turned and walked back. He walked to the right, then turned and walked to the left, all the while in full display mood. What made the entire event more remarkable was that it all happened as the sun was setting which at times cast a warm red glow on the bird making him even brighter then usual. Toward the end he looked back at me as if to say…”are you getting this?” I would have been happy to pay admission to this show!
“Hey Fellas Watch This!”
Our resident cranky pants spoonbill was getting along fine with a trio of white ibis recently when he apparently decided to show off. He suddenly lifts off and leap frogs over the ibis delivering a nice shower to them as seen in photo #3. Far from being impressed however…the ibis simply went right back to feeding and mostly just ignored the spoonbill’s dramatic display. Perhaps they were happy to see Mr. Grump leave the area!
Time To Leave
One evening last week I watched this young spoonbill leave the salt marsh and fly off in front of the pine trees on it’s way to roost for the night…
Phil Lanoue Photography 