Phil Lanoue Photography

Rough Breakfast

This morning a young anhinga came up out of the marsh with a decent size fish.

But by the time we saw it, the bird must have really beat up on this poor fish, as it was looking more than a little bit rough around the edges.

The anhinga did however manage to get the fish down that long skinny neck.

As is often the case in this area of the marsh, there are many types of vegetation which can get in the way of photos. But I kind of didn’t mind these because I thought they made sort of interesting and colorful geometric shapes.

“Radar” Is Back!

Well the big news over at the marsh this morning was the surprise re-appearance of our pal “Radar” who has been MIA since early Feb. 2015, almost a year and a half ago.

For those that don’t know the story… “Radar” is a great egret that was fitted with a solar powered transmitter and two antennas as part of a tracking program. When he became missing we couldn’t locate any of his original taggers and are not even sure now if anyone is still keeping any track of the boy.

We have been following him for over five years as the earliest photos of him I can find on my files are from Feb. 2011.

So where has he been for all this time?!? We heard reports that he was spotted at one point early this Spring in a nearby rookery so if that’s the case then he found himself a girlfriend.

But that never previously stopped him from returning to the marsh where he was always Head Egret In Charge. “Radar” even stood up to the alligators and even they seemed to recognize and respect his authority.

So we hope he sticks around for a while, but he is going to have some work to do getting all the other birds in line now that the sheriff is back in town! 🙂

How Rude!

What? You thought I meant the egret unceremoniously gulping a fish this morning in the marsh?!?

No, I’m talking about the weeds that unexpectedly jumped out at me creating an unsightly green blob in the bottom ride side of my picture.

The fish? Well, we all know how that goes…

Standoff

An alligator was sneaking around in the marsh yesterday morning trying to intimidate a little snowy egret as a wood stork solemnly stood watch.

Soon the wood stork had some friends arrive, but so did the alligator. It all eventually ended as a stalemate once the alligators slunk off and the wood storks went back about their usual business of fishing and fussing with each other.

Summer Arrivals

Well the wood storks have finally been showing up at the marsh in the past couple of weeks. They seem to arrive in small groups or even sometimes as singles.

This past weekend we had an early morning meeting which quickly broke up as they flew off and went about their business for the day.

Tweener Hard At Work

Early this morning we had a ‘tweener’ out grabbing some breakfast in the marsh.

The ‘tweener’ is one of my all time favorite bird phases. This is a little blue heron that is transitioning from an all white juvenile to a mostly all blue (with a touch of maroon) adult.

These birds are always fun with their varied, almost checkerboard sections of blue and grey randomly placed throughout their body.

This little guy caught himself a little snack after a very stealthy approach with an impressive technique. He must have been paying attention when his mom was teaching minnow snatching. 🙂

Sleeping? Or Just Resting?

On an early morning one day last week I saw our good buddy casually resting his chin on the pathway. I wasn’t sure if he was napping or just resting up for a big journey.

Well, it turned out he was indeed planning on a trip, albeit a short one. This paved path separates the marsh pond from the swamp and our boy was indeed headed for the swamp, no doubt to locate a nap spot. I know napping had to be part of his plan. 🙂

Footprints In The Sand…

Early this morning we spotted signs that at some point in the night a momma loggerhead sea turtle had come out from the ocean and walked across the sand to make a nest and lay her eggs in the dunes.

As summer approached, many signs of sea turtle nests have been spotted by individuals and various volunteer groups that monitor the situation along the coast.

If all goes well, in about two months we may be seeing sights such as this baby seen in the last two photos which were taken in August of last year in the same general area here at the beach.

When looking at these tiny creatures it’s amazing that even one could survive it’s journey to the gulf stream, but indeed many will. Hopefully 35 years from now this baby, if it’s a female, will return to it’s original nesting site to also lay eggs and complete the cycle.