Phil Lanoue Photography

You Never Know What May Happen On Christmas…

Yesterday afternoon we went over to check out the marsh to see who might be out enjoying their Christmas.

It was bleak and grey by the time we arrived and we quickly saw this great blue heron looking quite dignified standing in the salt marsh.

The surprise turned out to be how the heron’s reflection appeared in the water. Some Christmas magic perhaps?!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas from the swamp!

I, my wife Alyce, and the whole gang at the marsh want to thank all of you for your interest and support for the wildlife photo blog these past six months.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy healthy New Year!

Hey! Watch Where You’re Sticking That Wing Pal!

Yesterday morning I saw this great egret standing on an oyster bed preening. The egret was not paying any attention to the little snowy egret that was right next to him and may have poked the snowy in the face with his wing. The snowy did NOT seem to appreciate the carelessness.

Minor Dispute

Last week I saw this great blue heron jetting across the salt marsh looking extremely purposeful. I soon realized what the huge emergency was, another GBH had the nerve to be sitting in the same marsh! Even though this second bird was minding it’s own business and not acting aggressively in any manner, it’s mere presence alone could not be tolerated.

Blue herons can get like that sometimes. They will be fully involved with fishing or any other activity, and then suddenly jump up and fly all the way across the marsh to chase off a competitor. It’s nothing personal really, it’s just life in great blue heron world. In fact, the chaser can easily become the chased at any moment!

A Cold Day In The Swamp

Last night’s wind and rain storm brought in a cold front for this morning. We had temps drop down to the 40s F with strong wind gusts.

It was a cold morning, but with not a cloud in the sky, it was also a very bright and sunny morning. So I thought I would go check out the swamp to see if the various ducks, coots, moorhens etc. might be out and active. I was shocked to see an alligator laying out along the edge of the water. Although the gators do like sun, they generally don’t like cold and they really don’t care for strong wind either. I was even more surprised when after watching this guy for only a short time, he decided to leave his spot in the sun and swim over to a new spot. This new location did not seem all that more comfortable to me, but what do I know?

Quickly a few moorhens who had been feeding nearby came floating over to check out the new arrival. This was really turning into a popular spot!

Time Lapse Video

Here is a 30 second time lapse video I made today showing some dark clouds rolling in at sunset.

This was 725 images one taken every five seconds for about an hour total time.

There is also a still shot I took about 15 mins. after I started the time lapse which would make it approx. 7 seconds into the video.

Morning Flights

There were several different species of birds flying around the marsh yesterday morning.

I saw this wood stork fly across some pine trees…followed a little while later by a white ibis flying in the same area. A bright sun and crisp blue sky made for a beautiful morning to swoop over the marsh!

Morning Fishing

This morning we were watching this great egret fishing in the salt marsh. It was mostly picking out very tiny minnows and shrimp.

I kind of liked how the white bird looked against the blue water.

It was a fairly active morning, we saw brown and white pelicans, blue herons, white ibis, wood storks, ospreys, kingfishers, cormorants, terns, merganser ducks, snowy egrets, a clapper rail, a cooper’s hawk, and many varieties of gulls flying all over.

More on many of these later in the week…