Phil Lanoue Photography

This Is What We Are Waiting For

When spoonbills arrive in the marsh they often join a group of wood storks which could also include an assortment of egrets and herons.

These shots from two weeks ago are what we are hoping to see any day now. After our five pink visitors left the area back in late August we have been eagerly awaiting their return and hope to see some pink fly ins soon.

We miss our big goofy pink friends. 🙂

Quick Exit

A snowy egret jets across the salt marsh in a huge hurry. Snowys are high strung little birds that do almost everything in a hurry.

It’s All In The Technique

This juvenile tricolored heron that was fishing in the salt marsh yesterday afternoon has the whole deal down perfectly.

Step one is to stalk your prey (in this case a tiny minnow).

Step two is to angle your body and neck down low to the water and get in the proper position to strike.

The final successful result is a tasty little fish!

This youngster has all the tools he will need to grow up to be a skilled adult Tri. 🙂

Why Is Everyone Flying South?!

Late this afternoon we had light grey overcast skies with a threat of possible thunder storms coming in. I was looking north over and across the salt marsh when I started to notice quite few birds, especially the egrets, that seemed to be flying south in a hurry.

Within 15 minutes I discovered why. The clouds came rolling in from the northwest and were moving in a southerly direction right toward us.

These last two shots are looking north across the salt marsh and were taken 3 minutes apart. Although the long, low shelf clouds appear quite ominous, those are only a part of an approaching storm system and are not in among themselves very dangerous. But they must look rather scary to much of the wildlife who seemed to want no part of whatever was coming next.

Pop Up

This juvenile little blue heron surprised me with a quick pop up out from the reeds in the salt marsh this afternoon.

Little blue herons are interesting because they start out their lives as all white immature birds, then gradually begin to change into the blue adults they will eventually become. At this stage they can easily be confused with snowy egrets which are almost identical. But snowys start out white and remain all white into adult hood.

I was happy to see this guy because I generally see a lot more adult little blues then the juveniles so it was a fun sight!