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.
Spoonbills!!
Here are some flight shots of our pink visitors, the roseate spoonbills! The first four are from yesterday evening and the last four were taken this morning. We continue to be thrilled to have these amazing birds spending time in our marsh area and hope they stay all summer, and if we are very fortunate they may have some friends stop by in the coming weeks!
Group Portrait
I mentioned previously how excited we were that our favorite pink visitors, the roseate spoonbills, arrived in our area this week. At first only one showed up, followed by a second one two days later, and then last night three more came making the total five. We found the group out in the salt marsh this afternoon and I thought I would post up a quick group shot for you all to check out. Everyone here is thrilled!
The Fish Were Flying!
Our pal Mr. Gator was really getting things all stirred up in the salt marsh last night, and by “things” I mean lots of small fish! They were busting out of the water all over the place as the big boy was lunging out, splashing down, and swallowing mouthfuls of the tasty treats. The fish did not have much hope for escape either, the alligator had them corralled in a shallow landlocked pool formed by the receding tide. It was close to total dark by the time we left and Mr. Alligator was still at it sloshing about gobbling up the hapless fish. I bet he slept well last night!
Evening Spoonbill Flight
As many of you know I am always excited by the arrival of roseate spoonbills to our marsh area. The spoonies are not normally a bird we see here, but for the past few years we have been lucky around this time to get a visit by one or more of these big pink goofy birds. Sunday night this one youngster showed up in the marsh along with a group of wood storks which is typical as the spoonbills generally hang around with the woodies. Monday night I went back again to search for this spoonie and did not see it with the wood storks and I suspected it was out in the salt marsh feeding and could potentially fly in soon to join his companions. After a while the spoonbill did indeed come flying in just as I hoped.. but unfortunately it flew in toward the setting sun making the bird severely upper back and side lit and the lighting less than ideal. In the first photo you can see spoonie has a great egret buddy in the background.
The current update is that our young spoonbill picked up a friend last night as a second, brighter pink and older individual came in to join the relatively pale colored youngster. So now we have two and the hope is that more will arrive in the coming weeks!
Alligator Out For An Evening Walk
This past weekend I noticed our old pal Mr. A poking his nose out from the edge of the marsh pond clearly with thoughts of taking a little walk. It didn’t totally surprise me that he wanted to take a pleasant Sunday stroll, but what I did find interesting was that he was dragging what appeared to be approximately ten pounds of pond weeds around with him. That had to have been quite a burden too because when he got to the other side of the roadway, he needed to lay his chin down for a brief rest before moving on. Once he made his way into the salt marsh though, all the weeds got washed away and he was free to enjoy a nice leisurely swim.
Dancing And Prancing In The Marsh
Yesterday morning we were tremendously entertained by this tricolored heron that was performing a routine in the marsh pond. He was sticking his wings up and running all around presumably hunting for food but I never saw him actually catch anything, he seemed to be more interested in putting on a display for everyone. Naturally our friend Mr. Alligator was in the audience and enjoying the show, although he appeared less then impressed. It takes quite a lot to impress an alligator so I’m sure the tricolored was not disappointed in the lack of reaction. Often, no reaction from an alligator is a good thing anyway from the perspective of the small waders!
Finally the little tri settled down and wandered off along the edge of the pond to continue his hunt for breakfast with a much calmer approach.
Morning At The Marsh
To start things off today I thought y’all might enjoy an overall wide view of the marsh pond courtesy of the 8mm fisheye lens. If you look carefully in the lower right corner in the reflected water, you can see Mr. You Know Who slowly gliding along.
What started out looking slow with not much happening eventually turned into a busy morning at the marsh pond. An alligator and tricolored heron both seemed to be concentrating on feeding in the same area. The alligator simply ignored the plucky little tri as the bird waded by searching for small fish. An anhinga pulled a double skewer move on this fish that it popped up with along the side of the pond. A young gator was stirring up the dark water in a small well concealed corner area we call “baby cove” because several small gators live and feed there… wisely staying out of the way of the bigger boys!
A great blue heron appeared to be on an important mission as it flew across the tree line. A little blue heron was also spotted fishing for minnows in among the pond weeds in the shallow water. And we were very excited to see the first of the summer appearance by a roseate spoonbill! These pink birds never fail to create a buzz and often draw a crowd whenever they stop by our marsh area for a welcome visit. Although this one was flying quite a distance off at the back edge of the pond I had to include a photo of it since I look forward to seeing a spoonie every year!
Alligator and Tricolored Heron
Anhinga
Young Alligator
Great Blue Heron
Little Blue Heron
Roseate Spoonbill
Time Lapse Of Clouds And Tide
Here is a 39 second time lapse video I took yesterday afternoon at the salt marsh. You can see that as the clouds roll on by, the tide comes gradually flowing in…eventually covering up the oyster beds completely. There are some very brief appearances by wood storks and egrets as well.
Phil Lanoue Photography 