Phil Lanoue Photography

I’m Not Sure What Got Into Him

Late this afternoon I was watching a great blue heron relaxing along the edge of the salt marsh. I never saw him go in to fish, he just seemed to be soaking up the sunshine alligator style.

Suddenly he got this odd look on his face, twisted around, stretched out and squawked loudly. Then he got himself all fluffed up and that was it. Demonstration over. Mr. A was floating around in the water nearby but he was there all day and the heron never seemed to care.

So I’m not at all sure what brought all this on.

Still Hanging In…

Although their season is beginning to wind down, our good buddy Mr. A was out in the salt marsh late this afternoon enjoying some warm setting sunlight.

The Chase Is On

Great Blue Herons seem to get particular enjoyment from chasing each other around.

This pair that flew across the reeds in the salt marsh this afternoon appeared to be having a great time.

The one in the back was the instigator and started the whole thing.

Dropping In On Friends

One day last week we were watching three spoonbills feeding in the salt marsh during low tide.

At one point I happened to glance behind me and saw number four come gliding in from the direction of the swamp.

Our new arrival dropped right in and started feeding immediately while his three friends never broke stride and acted liked the whole thing never happened.

In the second and third photo you can see the antler from a deer skeleton that still remains out in the marsh from last summer.

Some In A Hurry, Others…Not So Much

Many birds such as this white ibis were quite busy this afternoon flying from one end of the marsh to the other.

However…not everyone was nearly as active as the birds. A certain well known individual was perfectly happy to spread out his chubby jowls (don’t tell him I said that) and snooze the day away while the rest of the world went on around him.

One Fish…Two Fish

If one fish is good, two must be better. An egret in the salt marsh this afternoon was only getting better at catching fish as the day went on. He went from snatching one at a time to getting two with one grab.

Very nicely done and a good job by our egret friend!

Well At Least Somebody Was Working Hard Today

Early this afternoon I saw an osprey circling out over the marsh and diving down several times trying to get himself a lunch. A short time later he swooped over and landed in a dead tree with his meal which by now turned out to be a partially chewed fish. He must have taken an in flight bite.

In any case he seemed quite proud and happy with himself over his fresh caught seafood entrée.

Now over on the other side of the marsh… an individual (who shall remain nameless) was taking the opposite approach to the day. Hard work clearly was not part of the plan because I never saw him so much as crack open an eye.

I didn’t feel it was my place to criticize, so I left our napping friend alone to enjoy his snooze in the sun.