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.
Big Breakfast… Almost
This morning I was watching this egret fishing at the edge of an oyster bed in the salt marsh during low tide.
As soon as I saw him flapping his wings and dancing around looking all excited, I knew he saw something he wanted which generally turns out to be a nice fish.
The egret did indeed pluck a good size fish up out of the water which would have been an excellent breakfast. He seemed extremely happy with his catch, and even did a funny little hop move over to open water, apparently to finish his meal.
He started to swallow the fish down and I fully expected him to do just that. But what the egret did next quite frankly shocked me more than a little. He bent down and gently placed the fish back in the water and, as best as I could tell, the fish swam away to freedom.
This egret may have decided that the fish was too big to get down, although he seemed to be a full sized adult bird and should have been capable of eating a fish that size.
I was so surprised I stopped taking pictures and just stood there and watched expecting the egret to go back after the fish. But all he did was pace around for a bit then fly off.
I suppose the fish was too much to handle so no big breakfast for this egret today.
Late Afternoon
Earlier this weekend I grabbed this quick shot of a great blue heron as it flew across the marsh with upper back and side lighting hitting him.
I would have liked some light on the bird’s face, but I did like the way the late day sun brightened up the water.
The Intimidator
Earlier this afternoon I noticed this good size alligator heading in from the middle of the marsh pond on a full steam. There is a small area in the near corner of the pond that we call ‘baby cove’ because several of the little alligators (those 4 feet and under) live there. One main reason why the babies stay in that kind of out of the way location is to, hopefully, remain off the radar screen of the big guys.
So when I glanced over at the baby cove section, I saw one of the little gators and knew he was the likely target of the heavy battleship moving in. It certainly didn’t take any lengthy discussion to get this smaller alligator to quickly leave the vicinity. But that apparently was not enough for the head gator in charge, because he suddenly lifted the front part of his body up out of the water and opened his mouth as wide as it would go in a display of dominance.
In the fifth picture you can see what brought this on because in the background is a second baby that needed a lesson in who the boss is around these parts.
The big guy then turned around and after a brief stand off, complete with a menacing glare, young alligator #2 also was easily persuaded to leave the area.
After completing that task, the big boy headed back out toward the middle of the marsh presumably to continue spreading more cheer.
Flip Fishing
Earlier this week I saw an anhinga using the standard flip method while fishing in the marsh pond.
Anhingas are among my favorite bird action to watch and photograph.
It’s A Twofer!
Saw this great blue heron come up with a two for one deal yesterday afternoon in the marsh pond.
He got two fish with one strike at the water!
As it was, I was amazed by how many of these fish the heron caught in a short period of time. But even so, I guess he was in a rush and simply catching one fish per strike wasn’t doing it for him. Smart bird in any case because this two fish method is much more energy efficient.
Little Greenie
Earlier this week I watching this green heron fishing in among the oyster beds at the salt marsh during low tide.
It’s fun watching these active and colorful little guys dart back and forth in search of their usual diet of small fish and shrimp.
Despite being very fast walkers and flyers, these stocky birds will often wait patiently and remain very still until the perfect moment to strike at the water occurs. They are very skilled at what they do.
Crab Fishing
I was watching this young alligator sloshing around in the salt marsh yesterday afternoon and he seemed to be mostly scooping up mouthfuls of small fish and glass shrimp. Suddenly the gator lifted his head up out of the water and I saw it had a fresh caught blue crab.
He crunched on the crab for a few seconds then lifted his head and neck up out of the water and swallowed his treat right down.
In the last photo I thought he had kind of a happy, satisfied look on his face. It was quite likely his first crab of the season and he seemed to really enjoy it!
Busy Day
We had a lot going on over in the marsh area this afternoon.
The little green heron was out fishing, a black skimmer came zipping by, an alligator caught himself a crab, and the eagles were out flying all over the place.
At one point this eagle, which we believe to be the female of our local mated pair, stopped for a quiet sit in a nearby pine tree.
From looking at her you would not know she just got finished chasing off an intruder eagle, plus mom and dad are still teaching the youngsters how to fly and eventually fish on their own.
Like I said, we had a lot going on and of all the photos from today I thought I would go with mom looking fairly relaxed but still alert.
Phil Lanoue Photography 