Phil Lanoue Photography

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!

Evening Stroll

Yesterday evening I saw good old Mr. A sloshing his way across the salt marsh at low tide. I could tell just by looking at him he was not planning to stay there for the night and sure enough, a few minutes later he came lumbering up out of the marsh and took a nice little stroll over to the pond side!

Spoonbills Make A New Friend

Last night we were watching this pair of spoonbills feeding in the shallow water at low tide. It wasn’t long before our pal Mr. A showed up to join the party and proceeded to fish in the same spot as the spoonies. At first the two pink birds seemed a bit flustered and were not sure what to make of this new arrival. But, after a brief discussion, they apparently concluded that the alligator checked out OK so they went right back to fishing. Mr. A’s curiosity was also quickly satisfied since he simply turned around and went over to his little area to fish as well. More on that later…