Phil Lanoue Photography

Fresh Flounder For Dinner… Almost

This afternoon and egret plucked himself a nice fresh flounder out of the salt marsh during low tide. The egret struggled with the oddly shaped fish for almost ten minutes before bringing it back into the reeds and dropping it in the mud.

The egret finally decided there was no way he could swallow the flounder the way he would a more streamlined fish, and abandoned it despite all the effort.

A bit later I saw this same egret snacking on some tiny minnows and shrimp and I know leaving his prize catch had to hurt…

“Mind If I Pass Through?”

A great blue heron watches from the sidelines as an egret flies by in front of him over at the salt marsh this afternoon.

Another Hard Day At Work

Say what you will about the pelicans…they may be a bit goofy looking but I have to admit they work hard. There were a couple out this afternoon flying all over the salt marsh area hunting for a lunch.

I can always tell a pelican is serious about fishing when I see one come gliding in, then go into a sort of hover mode before finally diving down for (hopefully) the catch!

Right after that the big guy is off again to repeat the whole process again in another location.

Before I left I saw this one pelican taking a break from work. It came up out of the marsh and sat down along the edge to dry off and enjoy a well deserved rest.

Late Arrival

A great blue heron came swooping into the salt marsh late this afternoon just as I was leaving. The tide was still up and the water was at pelican depth, so I wasn’t expecting any of the large wading birds to show up…but glad this guy did!

Battling The Wind

It has been very windy with strong gusts around the marsh the past few days. That is not very good flight weather for the birds and many are choosing to delay any optional flying.

But when it becomes absolutely necessary to move to another area they have no choice. This great blue heron was struggling a bit as it flew close to the trees, but these guys know how to use their big wings to full advantage. Sometimes making the body as streamlined as possible when flying helps tremendously in navigating these rather inhospitable conditions.

Left Behind…

This past weekend we saw a pelican come up with a huge fish in the salt marsh. The pelican struggled with the fish for a while but something didn’t look right to us, and apparently not to the pelican either.

The fish was barely moving, so it was likely close to dead, and the bird must have concluded something was wrong so it was best to not eat it. The pelican dropped the fish back into the water, where it kind of slowly just floated away, and the pelican took off to try to find another big dinner elsewhere.