Phil Lanoue Photography

Just Cruisin’ The Salt Marsh

This afternoon we were watching a brown pelican as it took a leisurely glide back and forth across the salt marsh.

The pelican would occasionally hop up and jump at a fish but mostly he was just taking it slow.

A great blue heron paid no attention to the pelican as it cruised on by, which surprised me a bit because I doubt that heron has seen a lot of pelicans lately.

Muddy Ibis

A white ibis knocks back a small fish it just plucked out of the water in the salt marsh among the oyster beds yesterday afternoon.

Whenever I see one of these guys looking all filthy I can’t figure out how the bright white egrets manage to stay so clean while the ibis often get covered in marsh mud.

Oh well, the ibis are fun and unusual bird and I always enjoy watching them at ‘work’.

Sometimes It’s Just Not Worth The Effort

Two snowy egrets were fishing together in the salt marsh this afternoon when one plucked out a pretty nice fish.

Well… snowys being snowys, nothing can just be simple, everything has to be a giant production. So of course the one in the back gets his head feathers all raised up in a huge display and starts to chase his lucky friend who has the sense to starting running off with his prize.

But the chase stopped almost as quickly as it began. So apparently even a snowy can recognize a lost cause and cut his losses and just let the other guy keep his fish.

I did feel a little bad for him though. In that last photo snowball does have kind of a dejected look on his face when he concludes it’s hopeless and he’s now just standing there with his wings tucked back in watching a successful escape.

“Hey Guy, Nice Catch!”

On a recent afternoon, this wood stork came gliding in low across the salt marsh.

The funny part is that if you look closely in the lower right corner of the first photo, and the lower left corner of the second photo, you can see a blue heron standing there in the water with nice size fish hanging out of his yap.

Woody seemed excited for his friend’s good fortune. Well, actually I made that part up. Woody more probably wishes he had caught that fish!

After A Long day Of Fishing…

A tricolored heron takes a break from fishing in the marsh pond at the end of the day.

These are extremely active birds and after a few hard hours of fishing, their battery needs to recharge.

The early evening autumn sunlight makes this cute little guy stand out rather nicely.

You’re Leaving Me?!?

Well, I haven’t been over to the marsh in a couple of weeks so I figured I would look through my files from November and I found these GBH photos and I remember the day very well.

I just went over to the marsh that day for a short time and quickly saw this great blue heron standing in the salt marsh just kind of giving me the eye. Normally, they pay pretty much zero attention to me, but this guy must not have liked something about how I looked because he did an immediate jump off leaving me alone.

The heron left so abruptly that he practically jumped right out of my frame. As it was, I sill clipped his wing tips, but that shows how close he was.

Lost My Mom…

My mother died Sunday morning November 29. She had been on hospice for a while but in recent weeks started a significant decline.

We had a celebration of her life service here in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area this past Thursday afternoon.

During the service I spoke a bit about some memories I had of mom going back to my childhood. She always had a love of nature and I can vividly remember her announcing the first Spring sighting of a robin in our backyard. She always delighted in the antics of the squawking blue jays, the scampering squirrels, and the bright crimson color of the cardinals.

As years went on and she came to live nearby us here in South Carolina, mom would continue to be amazed and interested in the various wildlife that could be seen when my wife Alyce and I took her on day trips to area gardens, nature preserves and parks. She saw dolphins splashing in the ocean, egrets and herons feeding and taking flight, and several alligator sightings as you may expect.

But something different and more remarkable started to occur as we were on one of our adventures. Mom started to point out scenes that in her words she thought “would make a nice picture.” Well it turned out that in virtually every case, she was right. What she had spotted would indeed make a very nice picture. She *saw* it. It has always been my view that those who could ‘see’ the scene before taking the picture would always come home with the most interesting photographs.

So it was during these times that something else began to occur to me. This was where I got it from! My love of nature and my interest in capturing some of those scenes had to come from mom. She started it all back when I was a child, and I never knew how that could even conceivably turn out later in my life.

So I want to give special thanks to my mom for passing along a valuable gift. One that I will always treasure and hopefully continue to be inspired to pursue.

This photo here of an a pure white egret ascending upward from it’s earthbound home to it’s equally comfortable home in the sky is a tribute to my mom’s new life up in heaven where I know she is enjoying the endless bounty of nature and all sorts of unimaginable wonders that were awaiting her.

My mother will be missed by many here on earth, but I will endeavor to honor and keep her memory alive by always keeping my eyes open for something that “would make a nice picture…”

These Guys Need A Lot Of Runway

This past week I was watching a cormorant fishing in the salt marsh. Two or three times he took off to go fish a bit farther down, and each time it took him longer to get started. He could barely get airborne. I guess once they get good and wet they also get heavier which means it takes a while to get going.

Plus…they have to do that hop, skip, and jump technique before they can even think about taking flight. That’s where all the extra required runway comes in handy.