Phil Lanoue Photography

Low Ceiling Morning Flight

The sky was grey and mostly overcast with just a bit of filtered overhead sunlight hitting the top of this bald eagle as it flew over our heads last week. I wasn’t very happy with the weather and lighting conditions but…I did like the look of determination on this eagle’s face as it flew off toward the marsh!

Success!

As promised I am posting a followup to the egret story from a few days ago where the unfortunate bird lost his fish to a thieving gull. Well…our plucky egret did indeed catch himself another fish! Here we see as he brings his catch out onto the oyster beds. Egrets and herons will often carry a fish out of and away from the water with the idea being that should they drop the fish, and it falls onto land rather then in water, it can’t swim away.

When first catching his fish the egret appears quite excited, he puffs up his head and back feathers. But it’s not merely the excitement of catching another fish that has our boy all fluffed up, there were still many gulls and pelicans in the area that would be more then happy to relieve the egret of his meal. But as you can see, luck is on his side this time as he successfully get’s this fish down with no unwanted interference.

Notice also how this egret is displaying breeding plumage. It’s fluffy looking plumes extend out from it’s back beyond it’s tail feathers. It also has the green lores around it’s face which also indicate this bird is in breeding season.

Eagle In The Afternoon

Yesterday afternoon we were watching this bald eagle that was sitting in a pine tree at the edge of the salt marsh. I grabbed a few shots as she took off. I say ‘she’ because I believe this is the female half of the mated pair that has been lurking around that area for a while now. The male that we had been seeing her with was younger and still had some dark streaks on his head. Always a treat to see these impressive birds in flight and we are happy they are still maintaining a presence around the marsh!

Caught Stealing

Last week I saw this great egret catch a fish in the salt marsh when suddenly a gull came swooping in out of nowhere and snatched the fish right out of the mouth of the startled egret! The gull flew off with it’s stolen prize leaving the disappointed egret with no choice but to get back to fishing and hope that he could quickly catch a replacement.

It turns out that the egret did catch another fish and what happened to that one is a post for another day…

He Got To Keep This One

Over the weekend we were watching this great blue heron fishing in the salt marsh. Unfortunately for him there were also several pelicans fishing in the same area. The pelicans will interrupt their own fishing if they see a heron or egret catch a fish and they will jump them to try to take it away. As you can see in the last photo, which was taken the day before, that GBH was forced to flee and lost his fish to the pelican! It’s hard to see the fish in the mud but it’s there. I’m not quite sure why the blue herons and egrets allow the pelicans to get away with this thieving behavior. I would think that a well placed peck to the head of a pelican by a bird like a great blue heron would send a strong message. I know I would not want one to be mad at me and decide to give me a shot with that powerful pointed beak.

The good news for the great blue heron in these photos is that he got to keep his fish…so the pelicans don’t always get their way and the other bird’s fish!

“What Is That Thing?!”

This morning in the swamp I saw these two moorhens come strolling along on the edge of the water looking to pick at their usual breakfast of aquatic plants which they seem to find quite appealing. They quickly noticed however a large, somewhat unusual item floating there in the water. The moorhens paced about nervously for a few moments attempting to ascertain what this odd thing might be. But they must have concluded that it was nothing to be overly concerned about because they just as quickly went right back to their usual foraging.

Our pal Mr. Alligator was completely uninterested and ignored the moorhens the entire time. He obviously had more important things on his mind which no doubt included finding a comfy spot in the sun for his daily nap!

Takeoff!

Yesterday afternoon I saw this Pied-billed Grebe doing a running takeoff as it launched itself up and out of the marsh pond. The Pied-billed is a duck-like diving bird and I generally only see them floating about in the marsh occasionally diving down to snatch a small fish and then popping back up again. Grebes are not skilled or graceful flyers and it takes considerable effort for a Pied-billed Grebe to get airborne so it was very unusual for me to see one going through the takeoff procedure.

A Relaxing Morning

Yesterday morning I went over to check out the swamp and see if any alligators might be out taking advantage of the bright sun and warmer temps. After a brief wait I saw this guy come gliding in and haul himself up out of the water and onto his comfy nap spot he had chosen for the day. I guess it was a popular place because a short time later he was joined by his friend who had also apparently decided that location looked extra comfy!