Phil Lanoue Photography

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…

The Sun On Your Face

We have had a few rainy and dreary days in a row here so when the sun finally broke through this morning we decided it might be a good idea to check out the swamp to see if anybody was around. Sure enough, one of our old pals was out enjoying the pleasant morning. Quite often the sun on your face is a good feeling!

Big Lunch

Last week we saw this great blue heron pull a large fish out of the salt marsh. The GBH took three minutes to get the fish under control and into proper position for a head first gulp down. In one photo you can see an interested gull do a fly by during the event and in the next, a cormorant pops it’s head up out of the water for a quick look around.
We were also quite sure there were no bald eagles in the area because a blue heron with nice fish is generally the eagle magnet.
Of course *we* were hoping an eagle would show up but the GBH most certainly was hoping the opposite. The heron was lucky though, he got to keep his prize catch and make a very nice meal out of it.

Big Fish For Little Snowy

Earlier this week we saw this snowy egret snag himself a nice size fish out of the salt marsh at low tide. Normally we see the snowys only catching very tiny minnows which they pop down in great numbers. On a rare occasion such as this, we will see one almost surprise itself by catching a good size fish which sometimes they don’t even get to eat because a larger bird can take it away before the snowy has a chance to swallow it. This snowy not only got to keep and eat his fish, he wisely took it over to the muddy oyster beds to deal with. The idea behind walking out on land is that should the bird drop it, the fish won’t be able to swim away as it would if the bird was still standing in water.

Clever snowy!

Getting In A Twist

I thought it might be a nice to pull this one from my files, it’s an image that has not previously seen the light of day anywhere.

Looking at this egret, I’m not sure exactly what has got him in such a twist.

Is he looking at his own reflection in the water?

Is he looking for a fish?

Is he trying to figure out what that big thing is that is floating by?

I’m not sure. What does everyone think?!

Quiet Day

I stopped by the salt marsh only briefly yesterday afternoon. It was cold and windy and most of the birds were taking it easy, possibly conserving energy.

The incoming tide did not seem to be bringing many fish in with it anyway, so as a result I saw many birds who appeared to be in a resting mode rather then actively fishing.

I thought the photos with a great egret and a snowy, and then a great blue heron with a snowy, were interesting as they show the size differences between these birds.

It is supposed to warm up here for the coming weekend so I’m sure the action will pick up as the temps rise.

Shrimp Cocktail

Earlier this week we were watching this great blue heron who seemed to be enjoying hanging around the salt marsh and plucking shrimp out from among the oyster beds.

This is about as fresh as a nice seafood snack gets!