Phil Lanoue Photography

You Wouldn’t Think Something That Big Would Be Able To Hide

So yesterday evening I thought I spotted some movement in the weeds along side the marsh pond and when I stepped over to investigate, I quickly noticed this huge eye already checking me out. I have to give the big guy credit, he did manage to hunker himself down and, despite his size, be quite well hidden. I also knew what was coming next…he wanted to walk out from there and take a nice slow leisurely stroll over to the salt marsh to feed at low tide.

I watched him for a while swimming and sloshing around for fish in the salt marsh and those photos are a post for another day…

Sometimes Being a Big Mouth Can Be A Good Thing

Normally if you hear someone being referred to as a ‘big mouth’, it’s meant as a criticism in a negative manner. But in alligator world, being a big mouth can be a good thing because nobody ever wants to mess with or bother the big mouth. Big Bubba here from this past weekend was nominated head gator in charge of the marsh pond largely due to his having the most impressive display of the evening!

“The Look”

Saturday morning we spent quite a while watching this roseate spoonbill in the marsh pond. During most of that time the spoonie was standing on one leg with it’s bill tucked behind his back, napping. About the most action we saw was when it would occasionally wake up and preen a bit before going back to sleep. But I really wanted some action photos, hopefully including some flight shots, so I waited him out figuring he had to get up at some point and likely fly off to the far back edge of the pond where a lot of the wood storks were congregating.

Finally our fluffy pink friend woke up and then I saw it…the look. I knew from prior experience watching these birds that they often get a certain almost imperceptible look about them when they are preparing to takeoff. Sure enough, he angled his head toward me then back straight ahead. He did this little bit of a drop down in preparation for liftoff, and that was it, he took flight!

He did indeed fly off toward the far back end of the pond where he joined his wood stork friends in a tree, but I got the shots I wanted…patience paid off! 🙂

Addressing The Troops

We had a huge crowd of wood storks in the marsh pond yesterday morning. At one point an egret was parading back and forth in front the group as if it was inspecting the troops. Of course the wood storks, being a rather odd looking bunch, look about as much like an alien invasion as they do any sort of military troop. It is fun and interesting to see them all lined up like that though. 🙂

Sharp eyed observers may also spot one adult and two juvenile little blue herons in front of the assembly…

Black Skimmer

This morning in the marsh pond we had a black skimmer show up and make a couple of passes through the water before heading back toward the ocean. You can see a pair of egrets in the background in the first photo. In the last photo, the water under the bird is bubbling up and almost looks like it’s boiling. Actually, it’s all the fish swimming and jumping in a panic when they see the skimmer flying over them!

Evening Flight

Last night I was watching this great blue heron that had been standing along the edge of the salt marsh preening. Once he stopped, looked up, and got that ‘look’ I figured he was thinking about leaving…and that’s when I got these shots as he flew across the marsh.

The Big Guns Were Out!

Yesterday late afternoon we had some thunder storms with heavy rain move into our area. By evening the storms had blown by and we decided to go check out the marsh pond specifically to see if any alligators might be out. We know that frequently after a rain, alligators will come out because they like to swim around in the newly freshened pond with a higher water level due to the rain.

Well not only were some out but the BIG boys were out! The heavy artillery, the big guns, the battleships, whatever you want to call them they were out and swimming all over the pond area. Most of you have seen me post photos of the babies recently (we refer to any alligator 5 feet and under as a “baby”) but the youngsters were nowhere to be seen. It was adult swim with no kids allowed last night!

“‘Gator, what ‘Gator…?”

Oh, THAT ‘gator! Last week we saw this snowy egret picking around in the marsh pond under close watch by our pal Mr. Alligator. In the first two photos snowball is just paying attention to the little fish in the water and not at all to his surroundings. By the third photo it looks like he spotted Mr. A, and snaps his head back to attention as seen in the last photo. So what happened? Well Mr. A just continued on with his lazy glide across the pond expressing no further interest in the little snowy who was now joined by his friend the tricolored heron. And everyone lived happily ever after. 🙂