Phil Lanoue Photography

Pretty Birdie?! I Think Not!

So yesterday afternoon I’m over by the marsh pond when I see this egret in all his fine breeding plumage preening away on a small island.

I think how nice he looks, so I go to grab some photos. Well after a few seconds the egret turns and offers me up this butt shot. How rude! Just when I was having all these pleasant thoughts about how nice the bird looks, this is how I’m treated.

Then he turns to the side and has an expression as if to say…”How about them apples pal?!”

Humm… By the way, this is an area where alligators are often swimming around and the gators like to crawl up on that island. I guess the egret was feeling all full of himself with no nasty alligators to contend with.

I’ve also included here a wide shot taken with my phone showing a more overall view of this section of the marsh, especially after several viewers liked seeing the wider shot of the salt marsh last week. This shot is looking west and directly to my right if I turned north, would be the salt marsh. The two areas are separated by a causeway which has vehicle traffic. The marsh pond seen here is fresh (well brackish) water and most of the alligators like to hang around here. They will only visit the salt marsh section for short periods to feed then they walk back over to the pond. In winter most of the alligators live in the swamp area which is directly south of this view but still in walking distance. The ocean is also very close by to the east.

It turns out to be nice convenient one stop shopping for wildlife photo ops. 🙂

An Osprey Goes Into A Dive…

You’ve heard the old joke…An osprey goes into a dive, what should he watch out for?

Watered down drinks? Filthy restrooms? Rude Patrons? Hitting his beak on the oyster bed?

In this case, the osprey went into a steep dive after spotting a potential meal down in the salt marsh but pulled up just in time. This was possibly upon realizing it was low tide and the risk of smacking one’s face into an oyster sticking up out of the shallow water was too great.

But I was impressed by the angle and aerodynamic style of this skilled flyer.

Also, once again the overcast grey sky made the background go white. We are due for some sunshine soon. (I’m hoping)

Big Effort Small Reward

This morning I was watching a great blue heron fishing in the marsh. The first time I saw him strike the water he made a big splash but came up empty.

A few minutes later he did catch a small fish that he seemed happy with, but not likely the whopper he was hoping for.

I saw him catch three or four small fish like that before he flew off. A lot of work for a small breakfast.

One Quick Circle

A bald eagle came flying in from their nest area this afternoon, made one fast soaring circle overhead, then blasted back across the salt marsh. We still have rainy weather here and the grey overcast sky made the background almost white.

Quick in…quick out.

Little Mister Cool

Yesterday afternoon just as I was about to leave the marsh area, I spotted this young alligator hanging out along the edge of the water trying his best to look casual and cool.

He found a nice comfy spot amid the tall green grass to relax and also a perfect place to rest his chin. I think this little guy has the right idea!

There’s That Look Again

This afternoon I arrived at the marsh area and immediately noticed a now familiar site at the edge of the salt marsh.

Same tree, same branch, same eagle, different day. Plus, he was giving me that look again.

Ok, I know it’s yet another grey, rainy, cool, windy day and everyone is sick of it. But at least this time the heavy rain held off, so I hoped I might be able to get a jump off and possibly a flight shot if the eagle decided to leave his favorite tree at any point.

So I did indeed wait, and after about half an hour I could see the eagle was beginning the get restless. (actually he relieved himself, and yes I have a photo) so I was ready for a potential jump off.

And that’s just what he did, and as usual he took a hard right immediately after clearing the branches and in a blink was all the way across the marsh.

I have to admit though, it was great seeing the big guy again. (If I’m allowed to refer to both Mr. A and the eagle as “the big guy”) 🙂

Morning Fishing Trip

We had an alligator out feeding in the salt marsh this morning during low tide. He was swimming back and forth among the oyster beds scooping up mouthfuls of small fish for the time I was there. Alligators don’t live in the salt water but will visit whenever they think the fishing might be good. They actually prefer fresh crabs, but it’s a little early yet to be seeing crabby out there.

Soon though, the fog rolled in followed by a torrential downpour.

I took this last photo with my phone just prior to running for the car and getting soaked in the process. If you look in the water in the lower center area, you will see our pal still out there fishing.

Nobody Was Happy About The Weather Today!

A Bald Eagle sitting in a pine tree at the edge of the salt marsh this afternoon did not seem to be at all pleased with the wind and rain we’re getting today…and he wanted to let everyone know about it!

Well, he can join the club because I wasn’t happy about it either. In fact I waited for a while hoping to get flight shots of this guy when he took off, but he just sat there looking aggravated until the rain finally drove me away.

There was an osprey fishing nearby and perhaps the eagle was waiting for the osprey to catch a fish, or maybe he was just waiting for the rain to stop. I had the advantage there though, because looking at the weather radar I could see that a huge rain storm was heading right for us from out over the ocean. So I knew we could expect nothing but wet weather for the rest of the day.

Inside for a little TV watching for me. Outside, sitting in the rain in his tree for the eagle.

I know I have snacks, the eagle can either go get his own, or continue to wait for the osprey. Wonder which one he chose?