Phil Lanoue Photography

He’s Back! Mr. Attitude

Many of you will remember the spoonbill from a few posts back with the huge attitude that chased off his younger rival…well he returned yesterday afternoon and picked up where he left off. Oh sure, he starts off looking all cute and well mannered, posing nicely by the salt marsh reeds and then doing a little feeding. But by the third photo you can begin to see that ‘look’.

The look is quickly followed by the attitude. He starts in with a bit of posturing and getting dramatic, all the while continuing to feed on the numerous glass shrimp that are everywhere in the shallow water at low tide. Our grumpy spoonie seemed to get along OK enough with an ibis that was busy plucking small eels out the marsh mud, but then it looked like he had an issue with an egret and it was all downhill from there…

Immediately the spoonbill took off across the marsh and chased the younger spoonbill into a tree before finally leaving the marsh area entirely. He no doubt is on his way to spread around cheer at a new location. I’m sure the other birds will be thrilled to see him!

Feeding Frenzy!

Yesterday afternoon as the tide started to come in at the salt marsh it brought fish in with it. The fish brought in wood storks and egrets with the wood storks arriving in great numbers which immediately prompted a feeding frenzy to break out among them!

The storks were going crazy chasing the schools of fish coming in with the tide and chasing each other. Occasionally one of the storks would snag a good sized mullet and it would fly off from the herd to, hopefully, be able to consume it’s prize catch unmolested by other storks. Although they are quite large birds, I rarely see a wood stork with a big fish, but they were sure happily snatching them up yesterday.

When the whole herd decided it was time to move off down the marsh I can tell you that the sight and sound of well over 100 huge wood storks flying together 20 feet from me was an amazing experience!

“This Pond Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us!”

Yesterday afternoon we were watching this one spoonbill calmly feeding on the far opposite edge of the pond. Suddenly another younger spoonbill arrived and landed about 50 yards from the first spoonie and picked out a spot of it’s own to do a little feeding. Well the older spoonbill immediately flew over to the new arrival’s location, we thought, to greet his friend which we assumed it would be happy to see.

But not so…the older spoonbill was not at all happy to have the competition and proceeded to chase off the poor youngster, who ended up flying across the pond to hopefully gain some sympathy from a crowd of wood storks who generally seem quite pleased to have a spoonbill join the group.

Also…notice how in the last two photos spoonie applied the brakes after concluding that his work here was done!

Portraits Of A Perched Anhinga

Earlier this weekend I was surprised to see this anhinga come swooping in and land on the end of a branch that was sticking out of the marsh pond just below my position. It had a heck of a time trying to balance itself on the very tip of the branch and I thought it had no shot…but…sure enough it managed to steady itself fairly well. The bird ended up staying perched there for about two minutes before it took off. I had just enough time to grab a couple shots of this anhinga who clearly thought he was striking a couple of elegant poses for his portrait pics!

Up From The Marsh

Early this morning we noticed Mr. Alligator sneaking his way through the reeds in the salt marsh. He didn’t appear to be hunting for food so we suspected he had likely been out there all night and was ready to get out of the salt water and back to his pond.

This would require slogging across the mud at low tide, then climbing up the bank to make his way over to the pond. So that’s exactly what our gator friend did… and after all the hard work of crunching up through the dried reeds, he rested his chin for a bit before taking a slow stroll to the pond where a nap in the sun was most probably his plan.

Determined Stalker

This morning I was watching some tricolored herons fishing in the marsh pond. I was particularly impressed by this one juvenile tri that was using a fishing method more commonly seen by reddish egrets. This tri was putting up his wings and employing almost dance like moves as it stalked the tiny fish that it regularly feeds on. Although these maneuvers may appear almost comical at times, the method has a very high success rate and many fish became part of this entertaining youngster’s morning meal!

Disagreement In The Marsh

Yesterday morning a tricolored heron apparently had an issue with our pink spoonbill friend and let him have it. Well…spoonie wasn’t going to be talked to in this way so he gave it right back to the tri who seemed surprised that the spoonbill did not immediately flee in terror. Spoonie didn’t let it bother him however, he promptly went right back to fishing and within a minute the entire incident appeared forgotten and they went back to being friends and sharing that fishing spot.

Morning Spoonbill

We were pleased to see one lone roseate spoonbill in the marsh pond early this morning. He was picking around with a few of his egret and heron friends but surprisingly no wood storks or ibis which are the usual spoonbill associates. Once I saw him lift his head, open his yap, and give me that look, I suspected it was time to leave and sure enough, spoonie took off!

He flew over to the salt marsh where we tracked him down, then back across to a far corner of the marsh pond where once again we tracked him down. Photos of our pink friend in those locations will be subjects of upcoming posts. Including one particularly unfriendly encounter with a tricolored heron. 🙂