Phil Lanoue Photography

The Fish Were Flying

Here’s our boy from earlier this week causing a major panic in bait fish world. He had them jumping like they just got tossed into a hot frying pan. But no hot meal for Mr. A, he likes them fresh and still hopping.

I know what you are thinking… could there possibly be even more photos upcoming showing our good buddy enjoying his dinner?!

Oh yes, oh my yes. There are indeed more pics from this feeding session that will be posted here in the coming days so stay tuned. 🙂

Happy Alligator Means Happy Snowy

As I mentioned previously, an alligator actively feeding in the salt marsh will often attract hungry snowy egrets. The alligator gets the panicky fish to jump around in all directions, including right out of the water, and that means the snowys reap the benefits.

Here, one lucky little egret shows off his prize. Snowball walked his fish over to some floating reeds which are a few feet away from the water. The idea with that technique is that should the frenzied snowy drop his squirming fish (and they frequently do) it can’t swim away if it doesn’t drop back into water. Smart little birds. 🙂

Gotta Love A Nice Toothy Grin!

An alligator earlier this week swims over to say hello and opens up with a nice friendly smile!

If he looks happy it’s because he has been stuffing himself with bait fish all afternoon and into the evening. He found himself a convenient landlocked pool fully stocked with huge crowds of fish and was making the most of it.

The snowy egrets are often attracted to the panicked hoards of jumping fish caused by the marauding alligator and they were working the area as well. Photos of them, in addition to our well fed gator pal showing the fish who’s boss, will be upcoming through the week.

Woody Loves Flounder

As soon as I arrived at the salt marsh yesterday evening I noticed this wood stork struggling with some sort of fish he had just plucked out of the water.

As I got closer I realized the stork had caught himself a nice flounder. It was going to be a tough job and require some work, but Woody badly wanted this seafood delight and was determined to get it down the hatch. After a ten minute or so battle, our pal Woody successfully swallowed down his hard earned dinner.

I know Woody loves him some flounder!

Wild Day

It was a crazy day over at the marsh this afternoon and early evening. There were three alligators feeding in the salt marsh sending the fish flying in all directions, plus another 8 or 10 over in the pond area, the gators were all over the place.

There had to be close to 100 wood storks fishing in the salt marsh along with egrets, herons, and their alligator friends. I even saw a wood stork grab himself a nice size flounder and after a 20 minute struggle, woody got it down.

But since I can’t get at all those photos right now… I have this osprey I found sitting in a dead tree along the edge of the salt marsh. He was just relaxing and enjoying the view but took a second to check me out.

Anyway, wood storks and alligators will be upcoming throughout the week. 🙂

On Duty

This weekend is the huge arts festival over at the park in the marsh area. A big crowd, as always, attends this exciting event.

But speaking of exciting! Here’s our pal Mr. A out manning his post and making himself available for pictures and autographs. Everyone passing by on their way to the festival had to drive by our good buddy here and as is typical, he does not disappoint the enthusiastic crowd. What a guy!

Hardly Worth The Effort

This great blue heron was fishing in the salt marsh last week and was at it for a while with very little to show for it other then a small minnow or two.

Finally the heron decided to move over to another section and hopefully have better luck. But unfortunately he just ended up looking bored and disappointed in among a group of wood storks.

Oh well, maybe tomorrow will bring better fishing.