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.
Well That’s A Mouth Full
Mr. A pops up out of the water with his big yap stuffed with yummy fishy treats on a recent evening over in the salt marsh.
He seemed very happy with his choice of the seafood appetizer to start off the night’s dining experience.
This Guy Could Play Shortstop In The Big Leagues
This past week I was watching a tricolored heron fishing in the salt marsh during low tide. At one point he snagged a fast swimming minnow (which is a typical menu item for Tri’s) whirled around to complete the play but momentarily bobbled the ball, uh I mean fish.
You can see the look of shock but also determination on his face in the third photo when it appeared he might get charged with an error.
But no! The plucky veteran recovers in time to make it a quick out for the hapless runner, uh I mean minnow. 🙂
Nothing Interferes With Nap Time…
So this morning had our pal Mr. A enjoying a pleasant snooze in the sun on his own little private island out in the marsh pond.
There was a snowy egret tucked back into the reeds out there with him, but Mr. A paid no attention. Suddenly a great egret comes swooping in unexpectedly! This gets the snowy all riled up, plus the egret comes in with a bit of an attitude which could mean some additional drama.
But interestingly, although snowys often fight with other snowys, and egrets constantly chase around other egrets, the two different species generally get along just fine so once they both calmed down and realized it was no big deal, all was peaceful once again.
Now you would think this would cause our good buddy to wake up all grumpy and make some sort of a fuss. But no sir, not on this sunny morning, Mr. A never even cracked open an eye. You find a nice comfy spot to nap away the day in the sun and nothing is going to interfere with that. 🙂
Leaving Again
Well the good news is that a few of the spoonbills are still being seen around the marsh area. The bad news is that every time I have seen them in the past several days, they were leaving and going back out into the marsh, way too far off for pictures.
These spoonie shots here were from this afternoon and they were as usual heading away from me. Don’t these dopey birds realize they are not at all being photographer friendly?!? They have a responsibility to come in close, be active and most importantly, look super cute. Instead I get a view of tail feathers as they unceremoniously depart the scene. Very rude. You don’t catch the alligators doing that, they love to stick around in hopes of getting extra screen time.
I’m seriously going to need to speak to these spatula beaks and explain how things are done around here.
I Think He’s Just Sleeping
Oops. Well guess he was awake after all. Alligator earlier this week appeared to be snoozing and not really paying attention when he suddenly lunged up and over and grabbed some poor hapless creature. Likely a fish…or a bunch of fish…but whatever it was he gulped it down quickly without ever lifting his head out of the water.
Even I sometimes forget how fast these guys can be when they need to immediately react.
Laying down On The Job
Well everyone knows that a nice bunch of matted down dried reeds makes a comfy spot to lay around on and enjoy the warm sun.
And, as expected, this young alligator was out Wed. afternoon taking advantage of the whole situation. What we did not expect, or remember even seeing before, was a great blue heron laying down on the job. Herons like this are wading birds! If they are not flying they are standing…always…standing. They stand when fishing and even when relaxing they just stand around and watch the world go by.
But this blue heron must have decided that the alligators have the right idea and why should they have all fun?! This particular heron was going to lay right down like he was a nesting chicken and simply enjoy the day.
Well all righty then!
More Spoonbill Fun
Here’s a few more shots from yesterday of our goofy pink visitors. I never get tired of watching these birds and taking photos of their antics, and hope y’all enjoy them as well.
And of course…off in the background of the third photo is, well, you know. 🙂
Friends Arrive!
Well our one lone surprise spoonbill from yesterday was still in the marsh area today, plus he brought friends!
Three additional spoonies were seen this morning at the far back edge of the marsh pond, but by the afternoon only three were spotted but they made a much appreciated visit to the salt marsh during low tide.
As is typical, Mister You Know Who felt compelled to be part of the show if not the star. (well, in his mind he’s always the star)
The three spoonbills spent some time feeding in the salt marsh and made a few short flight hops which provided some fun photo opportunities.
I have a ton of pictures of the spoonbill trio from today (along with the star attraction) which I’ll be posting in the coming days, but for now I thought I would just present a few representative views of what took place this afternoon.
It certainly was great to see the pink visitors especially since we felt so deprived after getting no sightings at all in Sept. But all is forgiven, they are here now, for how long we don’t know, but after all South Carolina has gone through in recent weeks their arrival was a welcome sight indeed!
Phil Lanoue Photography 