Phil Lanoue Photography

Looks Like Somebody Got New Skis

Earlier this week a brown pelican came gliding down into the salt marsh with his water skis fully deployed for a smooth arrival.

This pelican may need a little more practice with those skis because as is often the case when trying out new sports equipment, you end up falling right on your face.

The big guy did end up picking himself up out of the water and continuing along as if nothing happened. But isn’t that pretty much what we would all do?! 🙂

Well, It’s Not THAT Exciting…

A snowy egret was fishing with his friend in the salt marsh this afternoon when he suddenly erupted into a fluffed up frenzy.

The friend stopped dead in his tracks to see what all the fluffy fuss was about. Turned out that fluffball caught himself a tiny minnow.

So *that* was the big excitement?!? It was barely worth stopping for, so after the little snack was popped down, the friend continued on his way searching for some real fun (and fish). 🙂

Still Groggy

As the weather begins to warm up, our alligator friends start to show up around the marsh area.

But they are not exactly super active. A nice nap in the sun is about as exciting as their day gets at this point.

The second photo I took with the phone and shows our happy pair snoozing at the water’s edge.

Watch For Flying Feet!

A snowy egret was minding his own business in the salt marsh yesterday when an intruder appeared out of nowhere shocking poor snowball.

An aggravated snowy (well in truth snowys are almost always aggravated about something) will not hesitate to use any and all weapons at their disposal including a pair sharp clawed feet.

The identity of the attacker will remain a mystery as he kept his face out of security camera coverage. The only clues we are left with are those rather lethal looking snowy toes. 🙂

Hard Landing

I was briefly surprised at the salt marsh this morning when a brown pelican suddenly hit the water right in front of me.

The big bird was so close I couldn’t fit all of him in my lens. The good part was there was no extra charge for the cold shower. 🙂

There’s One In Every Group

This past week we had a large group of snowy egrets hanging around for a few days.

But since we are talking about snowys…one is always certain that there will be one particular aggressive agitator that feels compelled to get everybody else all stirred up.

The alpha snowy in these cases can usually be identified by the extreme fluffiness followed by endless chasing of the otherwise quiet group.

Here we see the individual in question start to get all excited and then begin chasing (well, herding actually) other snowys in a small water channel between two oyster beds. Once the mission is accomplished they all go right back to feeding. All except you know who…he goes back to chasing and fussing.

“See Ya Later Pal”

Earlier this week a great blue heron takes off across the salt marsh leaving his friend behind to fish alone.

I suppose the grass is always greener. Or… in this particular situation, the oysters and marsh mud are browner.

In any case, taking a look at the bright blue lores that are beginning to be displayed on this heron’s face means he is entering into breeding condition. So the tendency and instinct to wander are getting stronger every day.