Phil Lanoue Photography

Time Lapse of Sunset

Here is a 30 second time lapse of last night’s sunset at the marsh pond, taken over a period of about an hour. It was a beautiful evening and there had to be 15 alligators out floating and splashing around hunting for a night time snack! Oh…and watch for the jet contrails as they zip by, can you count how many there are?!

“Hey! Look What I Can Do!!”

Yesterday afternoon I saw this great egret hanging around with a napping alligator. Now of course the egret does not wish to be harassed in any way by the gator, but evidently the egret did not want to be ignored either. So the egret started doing these show off gymnastics routines right next to the alligator in an apparent move to impress our sleeping friend. The plan failed miserably. I don’t think the alligator even so much as opened his eyes and the egret walked away looking both a bit dejected and possibly even a bit miffed. On the other hand… had the alligator paid too much attention to the egret and tried to snap at it, the egret would have thrown a huge fit and made a giant fuss about it. Maybe the egret should reconsider his plans…it is far likely better to be ignored by the gator then to get too much of the wrong attention!

Nice Morning For A Walk

Well it sure was a lovely morning to take a nice walk along the marsh. Except I was not the one doing the walking…it was our old pal Mr. Alligator who came lumbering up out of the marsh to take a little stroll and check out the area. After he took a brief look around, he headed down into the adjoining pond for a pleasant swim before finding a comfy spot for a long nap in the sun. Nice life!

Late Morning Flight

On a recent morning I saw this great egret fly across the marsh pond but right against the trees. The strong upper back and side lighting along with the exposure combined to make the background go black while parts of the bird’s face and wings were highlighted. He was also having a bit of a squawk as he flew…which made his tongue stand out with that lighting!

Sunset Baby

Last night we went over to the marsh pond to check out the sunset and to potentially make a time lapse video. Right after I set up the for the video I saw this baby alligator (we call any alligator under 5 feet a “baby”) right in the middle of the reflected golden sunlight. You can see how it made a little path through the pond weeds and vegetation as it traveled. As we were enjoying the sunset we could also see and hear the occasional alligator make a splash as it jumped at fish in the pond. It was a very pleasant time watching many of the birds heading back for their night roost, and seeing the night herons and hearing them bark at each other as they headed off in the opposite direction to begin their evening.

Time To Go!

I was watching this tricolored heron fishing in the marsh yesterday morning when it suddenly decided it was immediately time to leave. I don’t know what the big rush was…but he jumped right out at me as he quickly departed the area!

Morning Hunt

This morning I was surprised to see an alligator over in a section of the salt marsh where I don’t normally see them. This one was apparently on the hunt for something a little different because I saw him come up with some odd looking crab that had translucent legs. Maybe the alligator was in the mood for something exotic and figured if it hunted in a new location it would possibly find some new food…and this one sure did!

Evening Meal

Earlier this week I was watching this cormorant fishing in the salt marsh. At one point he snagged himself a nice fish and after a brief struggle he gulped down his dinner. Once he was done fishing, the cormorant hopped out of the water in front of me to start drying off his wings.