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.
“So What’s On Your Mind?”
An egret remains alert as an alligator comes floating over in the salt marsh during an evening feeding session.
But as usual, the gator has no interest in the birds, his thoughts are on his all time favorite treat… fresh blue crab.
But, it never hurts for the birds to keep their eyes open anyway, getting too complacent could someday be a huge mistake.
Muddy Ibis
Even though this bird is technically a white ibis, we don’t call them ‘muddy’ ibis for no reason.
These wading birds often feed by sticking their long curved bill down into the marsh mud in search of little crabs and eels.
They have almost perpetually muddy faces and feet and this guy seen flying across the salt marsh yesterday is no exception.
Just Layin’ Around
Yesterday afternoon this alligator took a slow stroll across the causeway and then decided he needed to rest a bit before continuing on, so he laid down right in the middle of the sidewalk.
He relaxed there for a few minutes before climbing down the rocky bank and into the water of the salt marsh.
The gator went under the water for several minutes then surfaced, gave me one look, then headed out across the marsh where I expect he planned to spend the night.
Tricolor Fly And Fish
Yesterday afternoon we had this tricolor heron do a quick swoop into the salt marsh during low tide and he proceeded to zip around the whole area in search of a tasty snack of fresh minnows.
The colorful and active tri would hold up his wings and frantically go in all directions chasing the small elusive prey.
The little heron was a lot of fun to watch and he caught quite a few of his favorite fishy treats. He stayed there for almost half an hour and I suspect he was likely full judging by the amount of those fish he happily consumed.
Always exciting to have one of these guys running around because I know they can be counted on to produce a few photo ops.
Night Heron
This afternoon we had a juvenile night heron come flying in and he was in a huge hurry.
The thing that was odd was that normally we might see night herons fly from out of the swamp in early evening, and head out north across the marsh to spend the night in unknown areas.
But this guy was doing the opposite, he was flying in from the marsh and back toward the swamp in mid afternoon.
Very unusual. Was he just being a goofy kid? I don’t know.
The third photo especially, shows how pretty these birds are and how nicely they stand out from the green trees.
Much nicer than the overcast grey sky such as we had this afternoon which always makes the background go totally white.
So What’s That Look For?!?
This morning an osprey came swooping into the marsh area and as he flew overhead he gave me an odd look.
A short time later I saw the osprey land in a dead tree along side the edge of the salt marsh. I went over to see about possibly getting a look at him, but instead, he was the one taking yet another good long look at me.
Not sure what’s on his mind, and also thinking it may be better if I never know.
Egret Convention
Well the egret convention was in town this morning and as is typical of most meetings…there is a lot of standing around and very little actually gets accomplished.
Slowly Arriving
The wood storks are only just starting to come in over the past few days. It almost seems like there are showing up one at a time, like this fellow here.
By the end of the month and into Aug. we should have well over a hundred practically filling the trees.
Wood storks have a face only a mother could love, but they are interesting birds and fun to watch.
Phil Lanoue Photography 