Phil Lanoue Photography

Quick Lunch

Yesterday at just about mid day, I was watching this osprey circling the marsh pond and knew he was looking for a lunch. When I saw that look on his face as he was staring down toward the water I suspected he saw something…and sure enough he did. The osprey quickly dove down and plucked himself out a nice fresh fish for lunch!

Crab Salad

Yesterday evening I saw this alligator come up with a mouth full of pond weeds along with a tasty blue crab. I could hear the shell crunch as the gator chomped down on it’s evening meal. The alligator didn’t seem to mind all the greens, especially since there was no extra charge…a salad is included with all crab dinners currently being served in the marsh pond!

Evening Swim

Tonight I followed this alligator as it swam across the marsh pond looking quite purposeful. It turned out that he was heading over to visit his friend that was in the near corner of the marsh. A few minutes later I saw his friend rise his face up out of the water to say hello. Soon after that the friend scooped himself up a nice blue crab along with a bunch of pond vegetation that was all over the place. Photos of the crab crunch will likely be posted tomorrow.

Fish To Go

Last week we were surprised to see this great blue heron zip by along the salt marsh with it’s fresh caught fish still speared on it’s bill. Blue herons will normally eat a fish like that right where it was plucked from the water, but this one knew there was competition in the area including other great blues. In a case like that it is often wise to quickly move to a new location where a fish can hopefully be enjoyed without interference.

Beautiful Morning For A Walk

This morning an alligator came up from out of the marsh pond and walked across a paved path that separates the pond from the swamp in this area. He sure took his time and appeared quite casual as he leisurely strolled on by. But he is in no rush, it was a beautiful morning and a nap in the sun was more then likely next on his agenda!

Patience

Last night I was watching this wood stork as it was fishing in the salt marsh at sunset. Wood storks fish by placing their large bills in the water and keeping it quite still. Although they may occasionally walk slowly with their face in the water, they often remain absolutely motionless waiting for a fish to swim by which they can grab. This one waited for quite a while and I never saw it catch anything. As it got darker, I left the stork still patiently fishing and anticipating that a fish would swim his way. I hope he was eventually rewarded for his diligence…

Tricolored Heron Fishing

Earlier this week I came upon this colorful tricolored heron that was fishing in the salt marsh. The tricolored is approximately half the size of a great blue heron and this one is in breeding color which you can tell by it’s bright blue bill, deep red eye, white head plumes, and reddish colored back plumes.

When I first saw the tri it was very close to me as you can see in the first photo. However, after I made exactly two frames, some people came by and scared the bird back a bit farther into the marsh where it continued to fish. It didn’t take long for it to come up with a tasty fish snack, which it promptly brought back into the reeds to enjoy!

Swimming In

As the weather has warmed up here the past week, the alligators have really started to wake up. And this morning we had several swimming around out in the marsh pond including this guy that came up to say hello to me. Feeding season has begun which means mating season will soon be upon us. But first the gators will start to look for food, then they will start to stake out their territory, and sometime after that they will begin to search out perspective mates. After mating season has concluded they will spend the rest of the summer and into the fall concentrating mainly on eating. It’s shaping up to be another interesting alligator season!