Phil Lanoue Photography

Just When You Thought He Was A Changed Bird…

After seeing our resident pink bad boy having a humbling encounter with an alligator a few days ago, we thought that experience would likely turn his life around and stop some of the aggressive behavior. But oh no, not this grumpy spoonbill! He was right back at it in the salt marsh, once again biting the tail of another spoonie that was feeding quietly and minding it’s own business. And he wouldn’t stop either, he chased the other poor spoonbill completely out of the area. yapping at him the entire time!

Egrets New Friend

Actually these two egrets looked a bit confused when our pal Mr. A interrupted their fishing this morning when he came gliding in between them. Everyone remained calm and well behaved however, since a nice quiet, peaceful Sunday morning is best for all involved. 🙂

Mr. A’s BIG Dinner

Last week we were watching our pal Mr. A feeding in the salt marsh right around low tide. He likes to go there at that time because he can easily plunder a shallow pool of water which is stuffed with landlocked fish and crabs. Normally he is content to scoop up mouthfuls of the smaller fish that are jumping all over, but on this night Mr. A scored himself an entrée sized fish. This poor fish had the misfortune to not be paying attention as the tide was going out so instead of swimming along in the marsh, it ended up on the night’s menu.

Spoonbill Incoming

Two days ago I watched this spoonbill take off from the salt marsh and I thought it would fly further out looking for a new feeding spot. But instead, it did one loop around and decided to head into the same pine tree where all the wood storks were congregating.

It was funny seeing the one wood stork (seen in the first three photos) watch the spoonie carefully as it approached but, upon realizing spoonie was not planning to land on his head, the stork lost interest. Then the wood stork on the right took notice, as well as the one under the spoonbill, and by photo 6 you can see the two above looking down on the expected landing. Finally spoonie finds an empty branch and settles in, but that apparently did not please one wood stork who felt the need to immediately leave the tree.

Soon after this I was treated to a rare display of affection by a pair of wood storks in the same tree and that series of photos is a post for another day…

Sunset At The Marsh

Last night after the bird action died down I decided to hang around the marsh pond for a while to see if the sunset would be spectacular as is often the case. Sadly, the sunset in the sky kind of fizzled, but looking toward the water I saw the setting sun casting warm golden colors and then I saw something else. It was none other then our good pal Mr. A gliding across the marsh pond silhouetted by the warm setting sunlight. So the actual sunset was no big deal, but a Mr. A sighting is always a big deal! 🙂

Mr. Grumpy Meets His Match!

Well what do you know?! It turns out that not everyone in the marsh can be intimidated by our resident anti social cranky pink bird. Look who has decided he can be all quiet, mannerly, and reserved when around certain other individuals that he can’t push around! Suddenly it is a lot easier to behave when sharing a fishing spot with our pal Mr. A….What a surprise! 🙂

He’s At It Again!!

Well our cranky dysfunctional loner spoonbill was at it again yesterday in the salt marsh. (that’s him on the right) Mr. Grumpy was feeding at low tide when a group of six spoonbills suddenly came swooping in right at the spot where our anti-social pink friend was already feeding. He did not care for this unannounced intrusion at all and immediately attacked one of the new arrivals!

Mr. Grumpy leapt up in an airborne assault but he miscalculated as the enemy spoonie managed to grab hold of our disgruntled friend’s foot in mid air! This maneuver only served to further anger the cranky pink bird who proceeded to use that same foot to jam the head of his opponent down into the water. You can see that happen in photos five and six. The poor spoonbill was able to avoid being drowned as it quickly freed itself and bolted free of the entanglement with our aggressor still continuing his aggressive stance.

Well THAT Was Uncalled For…

This past weekend we were watching an adult spoonbill fishing in the salt marsh with a younger juvenile. At one point the older spoonie decides to grab at the youngster’s tail for no apparent reason that we could see. The little guy lurched forward, jumped, and managed to free his tail and then quickly went right back to fishing as if nothing happened. The older bird seemed satisfied that he got his message across and ultimately just went back to feeding. I suppose it might be part of growing up… the juvies know they are going to have to put up with a certain amount of harassment from the older crowd and have already learned that the best way to handle the abuse is to basically ignore it!