Phil Lanoue Photography

He’s Baaaack!

The weather has started to warm up here in recent days and I suspected the alligators would soon start moving around and getting a bit more active.

So this morning I went over to the swamp just to look around, and I wasn’t there ten minutes when You Know Who pops his cute little head out from the brush along the side of the marsh! Our pal Mr. A glances over at me then tiptoes out and takes a nice leisurely stroll onto the path there and then drops down into the water for a slow swim.

Once the alligators start getting hungry it’s going to be a very interesting Spring out there! 🙂

Tricolored Heron

This afternoon we had a couple of tricolored herons come flying into the salt marsh where they spent their time fishing for tiny minnows.

I always enjoy seeing these colorful and active birds as they endlessly dart about the area in search of a meal.

Done For The Day

Early this evening, just as I was leaving the salt marsh, this pelican decided it was time for him to call it a day as well.

He flew across the marsh reeds on his way out with the entire scene lit by warm setting sunlight.

Big Fishing and Flying Day

The same day that we saw the egret struggling with a flounder, we also saw other egrets come flying in and doing some fishing of their own.

One caught a large mullet but then dropped the fish in the mud. Nine times out of ten we would see a bird bring the fish back over to the water and rinse it off. Many egrets and herons don’t like swallowing a lot of mud with their fish, so a quick wash was expected.

Not this guy however, perhaps he didn’t want to risk losing the fish if he dipped it into the water, but in any case it got gulped right down mud and all!

The Great Fluff Up Continues!

The competition for fluffiest marsh bird continues on with yet another snowy egret putting on a fancy display.

The great blue heron from yesterday was a fierce competitor but little snowball is rapidly closing in on winning the title.

Too bad we didn’t have an alligator out there to judge the event, that would really raise the stakes!

All The Rage

Well…getting all fluffed up seemed to be all the rage in the salt marsh yesterday. Besides our little white snowy friends, this great blue heron felt the need to let it all hang out!

It was quite the exhibition and we were all duly impressed.

“What Are You Doing?!?”

This afternoon there were a few snowy egrets going about their business in the salt marsh. At one point a snowy sat still and quietly watched as his friend started going a little wacky and getting fluffed up and all in a twist. Finally he couldn’t take it anymore and yelled over to try to find out what exactly was going on!

Of course the comments were completely ignored by the fluffy snowball, so apparently the incident remains unanswered and unresolved.

Diving For Dinner

Yesterday there were a few brown pelicans fishing in the salt marsh in water that, due to low tide, was more shallow than they’re accustomed to. The pelicans are able to alter their fishing style so that instead of the usual almost vertical dive from above, they glide along in the water and utilize kind of a hop and dive technique.

That worked out fine for this big guy here who scored himself a nice fish that quickly went from being trapped in that huge pouch to down the gullet.