Phil Lanoue Photography

A Very Busy Eagle

This bald eagle was all over the salt marsh yesterday afternoon. It was using a nearby pine tree as a base of operations from where it would swoop down and grab a fish and then bring the fish back to the tree to eat. We saw it do that several times.

I have quite a few photos of this whole event and will post more tomorrow but for now I just wanted to give you an idea of how close it flew over our heads at one point on it’s way back to home base with a fish.

Slow Glide

This past weekend’s mild temps and bright sky brought out a few alligators into the swamp to soak up a little pleasant sunshine.

This big guy was taking his time doing a nice slow glide through the swamp on his way to picking out a comfy spot to nap away the day in the warm sun!

Morning Mergansers

This morning I was watching this pair of hooded mergansers going about their business in the salt marsh. I really enjoy seeing the comically entertaining “hoodies”. You can’t help but smile whenever you see the always dapper Mr. Merganser, and the extremely elegant Mrs. Merganser. Just look at his pop up head crest, and her fashionable hairstyle!

Early Evening Flight

I stopped by briefly at the salt marsh late this afternoon to see if anybody was out and about. Just as I approached this great blue heron it must have decided it didn’t like my looks, so it took off across the marsh reeds. I grabbed a couple shots as it it zipped by…and that turned out to be the only action I would see today!

Eagle Fish ‘N Fly

As soon as I arrived at the marsh area this weekend I spotted a bald eagle sitting in a tall pine tree. I was only watching it for a few minutes when it took off and did a low circle over the marsh and dropped down into the shallow water. It quickly flew up and over the reeds and it was at this point I realized it was carrying a fish which it had just plucked out of the marsh. What made this scene rather interesting was the unusual manner in which the eagle was holding the fish…it had the fish in it’s mouth!!! Normally raptors fly while holding the prey in their feet. This was the first time I had ever seen a bald eagle flying with a fish, even a small one like this, in it’s mouth! The herons and egrets will carry off fish in their mouths especially if being chased, but an eagle normally will use it’s feet for that purpose.

The eagle returned to the pine tree, flying into the back section of the tree where it consumed it’s snack. After it was finished eating it hopped back out onto some upper branches where it took a good look at me, then continued on surveying it’s domain.

The Grizzled Veteran

With mostly sunny skies and temps this morning approaching 70F, we suspected the Spring like conditions could possibly bring out one of the larger alligators and we were correct. As soon as we arrived we spotted this old timer sunning himself along the edge of the water in the swamp. He had the face of a seasoned veteran that had been around for quite a while and had done and seen it all.

At one point a moorhen who was picking it’s way through the water floated into the scene. As is typical at this time of year the alligator’s metabolism is slowed way down and they are not at all interested in feeding. They mostly just wish to warm up a bit in the sun and will ignore birds such as this moorhen who continued along his merry way!

A Clean Lunch Is A Tasty Lunch

On Wednesday we were watching this great blue heron fishing in the salt marsh at low tide. He struck at the water and pulled out a nice size fish for his meal.

But he must’ve decided that the fish he came up with had a little too much mud on it so the heron plunged it back into the water, gave it a good rinse, then happily emerged with a nice clean fish!

Manny, Moe and Jack

This morning started off sunny and fairly mild so we went over to the swamp hoping some of our reptile friends might be out relaxing in the sunshine. We quickly noticed Manny, Moe and Jack were lounging around at the edge of the water taking advantage of some pleasant sunlight. Moe decided he needed a bit more sun on his face so he turned around to position himself at a better angle for that, followed soon by Jack who had the same idea.

Although Jack was clearly enjoying the morning sun, he apparently thought things were getting a bit too crowded in that location so he headed off find a nap spot of his own. It was too bad he left because he missed all the excitement as a moorhen that was picking at marsh weeds came floating into the scene. Well maybe excitement isn’t the best description of the event as Manny and Moe appeared completely unimpressed and totally disinterested in the moorhen’s presence.