Two Minutes…

It took just two minutes for this alligator to glide out from the shade and straight into a single small patch of early morning sunlight in the salt marsh last week.

Once he hit the light he seemed to almost disappear into the golden water that looked almost like molten metal.

Alligator Glides Into Sunlight

Alligator Glides Into Sunlight

Alligator Glides Into Sunlight

 

 

 

 

 

“What Are We Supposed To Do Now?”

A group of juvenile tricolored herons look like they just got dropped off in the marsh by their parents yesterday morning and are not sure what to do next.

They seem to be a bit confused and are lacking a distinct plan of action. Oh well… they will learn.

What Are We Supposed To Do

Just Dropped In

An egret drops in for a visit at the marsh early this morning.

There was actually a pretty good crowd out today. Wood Stork numbers have really started to increase, tricolored herons were feeding in the area and they were joined by a couple of alligators.

Egret Stops In

Lazy Afternoon

It’s late in the day, it’s hot, nobody feels like doing much of anything…

Floating around in some cool water is about the best idea anyone’s had all day.

Lazy Afternoon

Using Those Big Wings

A great blue heron takes full advantage of that huge wing span as he flies across the salt marsh on a recent morning.

And naturally, as is typical, the heron has to make comments and announcements as it moves from one area of the marsh to the next.

GBH Using His Wings

Evening, Upper Atmosphere Flight

As the setting sunlight was casting a rosy hue on the slightly overcast sky, I spotted a bald eagle very high up and out across the marsh.

Considering the lighting, I had little choice but to go with a silhouette on the eagle. Wish he was in closer but then again the sky made for a somewhat interesting canvas I thought.

Bald Eagle Sunset Silhouette

High Stepping

A tricolored heron does same fancy footwork earlier this week as he hunts for some tasty seafood snacks in the salt marsh during low tide.

High Stepping

Well Finally, A Clean One!

I’ve been giving the white ibis kind of a hard time lately calling them ‘muddy ibis’ and other unflattering terms because of their propensity to be filthy.

They spend so much walking around in mud, which gets their feet muddy. They’re  constantly sticking those long curved bills in mud, which gets their faces dirty. Plus they somehow always manage to get mud and dirt all over their feathers.

So it was refreshing when earlier this week I took some flight shots of a passing white ibis and it really was white! And clean! Even its’ feet!

Wow. Amazing. This guy is truly deserving of the name….White Ibis. 🙂

Clean White Ibis

Clean White Ibis