Phil Lanoue Photography

A Little Spear Fishing

Earlier this week I was watching an anhinga fishing in the marsh. The anhinga fishing technique is probably my all time favorite wildlife action to view and photograph.

The anhinga will spear a fish on the end of it’s sharp bill but then needs to get the fish off in order to swallow it head down. So the bird will flip the fish up into the air and skillfully catch it one the way down.

Good for the anhinga, bad for the fish.

Green Herons Arrive

The little Green Herons have begun arriving in the marsh area for the past week or so.

This one here zipped in and quickly went to work fishing in the marsh pond area.

Always fun to see these colorful, active little guys show up!

On His Way In

An alligator was on a full steam in the marsh on his way over to greet me yesterday afternoon.

Such a polite, well mannered young man. 🙂

She Cleans Up Nice

Earlier this afternoon I couldn’t help but notice the stunning Mrs. Anhinga artfully posing at the edge of the marsh.

She was done fishing, done drying off, and had her plush feathers all smoothed out and wonderfully arranged.

I thought she looked quite glamorous! 🙂

A Couple Of Friends

We had a pair of ‘teenagers’ out in the marsh this afternoon. As is typical of kids most anywhere, they spent their day goofing around and just chillin’. 🙂

Do Not Disturb

Our good buddy Mr. A hung out a Do Not Disturb sign in the marsh earlier this week. He was in such a deep sleep tucked down in the comfort of the soft widgeon grass with his eyes all tightly shut…not even his nose was out of the water. He would wake briefly every so often just to pop up his nostrils for a quick breath, then right back down again.

We should all get a nice pleasant, restful sleep like this guy, right?!?

At one point a tricolored heron dropped in nearby for a visit, but he had no plans to wake a sleeping giant. The tri probably saw the sign too. 🙂

Well That One Must Have Tickled

Yesterday afternoon a great blue heron plucked himself a nice fish snack out of the salt marsh, but right after swallowing his treat he got all fluffed up.
I expect that fish was still wriggling on the way down and likely tickled a bit.

Oh well, it still counts and since the fishing didn’t look too great out there, I’m sure the heron was happy to have snagged even a tickler!

Stuff From Today

Spent some time over at the marsh this afternoon. Not a lot going on but, there was an appearance by our good buddy Mr. A along with a select few of his friends. Unfortunately, they were not interested in doing anything very exciting. Ok, in truth, they weren’t interesting in doing anything period. All I saw was a lot of dozing in the sun and a little half hearted slow motion swimming.

The first photo is a rare shot from today of our pal with his eyes open! Wow! That was (kind of) exciting!

In between the alligator action, I was watching this cute little sora rail flittering about back and forth searching for yummy treats. I love the white ‘chicken tail’!

A bit later, one of Mr. A’s friends was less than concerned about an egret that decided to fish in ‘his’ area. I think that egret could have safely walked across the sleepy alligator’s back with zero repercussions.

Before leaving, I was treated to the sight of this swallow tail kite gliding above the trees along the edge of the marsh. Always love to see these amazing birds fly so effortlessly, with hardly a flap of those wings. I only wish this bird would have flown in a little closer. I requested a circle back with a close in fly-by but was ignored. Oh well, maybe next time.