Phil Lanoue Photography
I previously worked as a news and sports photographer. Recently I have been enjoying wildlife photography. My approach toward bird photos is similar to sports photography. I attempt to capture mostly action and hopefully a unique perspective.
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.
“I’m Fluffy and I’m Cute!”
This snowy egret out in the salt marsh yesterday afternoon seemed to get all bent out of shape over his appearance.
I’m not sure if some other birds made rude remarks, but snowball wanted to assure us all that fluffy equals cute. 🙂
It Was Froggy Out There Today
We took a quick cruise this afternoon over to the marsh and also to check out the beach situation. It was a grey, dreary day with off and on rain showers so we weren’t expecting there to be a whole lot going on and that turned out to indeed be the case.
I was, however, a bit surprised to see some fog rolling in from the ocean.
The first two photos were taken with the phone and the last two with an old point and shoot.
The first picture is looking north and shows the salt marsh at low tide and you can also see the snowy egret convention was in town. (more hijinks and wackiness from the snowys coming up in tomorrow’s post) It was somewhat clear until you got about 50-75 yards out then the fog took over. Normally you can see clear across the inlet and Garden City Beach homes from here, but not today.
The second picture is looking south across the marsh pond with not much happening other than a couple of duckies floating and diving around in the water. No alligators out today although yesterday there was one snoozing along the edge of the pond near where I took this photo.
Checking out the beach revealed it mostly empty as expected. About all we saw was one drowsy looking gull with the ocean waves behind him, and surprisingly, a lone bicycle rider far down the south end. The ocean is in front and to the left of the rider but it can’t be seen at all due to the fog.
We are expecting a significant storm tomorrow with potentially damaging winds so it won’t be a beach day again.
“I’ll Have The Shrimp!”
Late this afternoon, just as I was about to leave for the day, I saw this egret in the salt marsh come up with a huge shrimp.
This was not just the biggest shrimp I ever saw a bird catch in the salt marsh, it was the biggest shrimp I ever saw anywhere!
The egret must have struggled with that shrimp for a good 20 minutes, but sure enough, he got it swallowed and down. I’m guessing this was the most shrimp that egret ever ate at one time.
Talk about a shrimp platter… that shrimp was as big as a platter. 🙂
BIG Mouth, Tiny Catch
A brown pelican fishing in the salt marsh this afternoon knocks back a tasty, but very tiny, tidbit. If you look close you can see a little bitty minnow inside that huge pelican pouch. 🙂
Still At It
Even though the day was winding down, an egret was still out there in the marsh pond fishing for one last meal.
I watched as the bird struck at the water, which was warmed by setting sunlight, with no success. As he continued along on his way, the egret was walking toward me into the darker area of the pond to finish out his day.
Phil Lanoue Photography 