Phil Lanoue Photography

Who Said Children Were Fun??

A baby can be an exciting time for a new parent, but it’s also a lot of work. The local area mated pair of bald eagles hatched their chick over a month ago and mom and dad have been very busy every minute since then.

But from the expression on dad’s face as he was flying around on a recent afternoon, he just might be a little worn out already. I thought he had kind of a sad sack or hang dog look on his face and I’m not sure if he was out hunting for baby food or just taking a head clearing flight as a short break from child care.

Bald eagle babies grow fast and seem to be just about always hungry so these parents have a lot more to do in the coming weeks!

Snowys… At It Again

Earlier this week we had a group of snowy egrets fishing in the salt marsh during low tide. But of course snowys being snowys…they can not simply just fish together. Oh no, a significant amount of drama and acting out is always required.

They might all start out with the best of intentions to just catch some fish. But it doesn’t take long for someone to get fluffed and that means someone else needs to be chased. Typical snowys, it always has to be something.

The Launch

This afternoon, a great blue heron launched himself up out of the reeds in the salt marsh, no doubt on his way to chase off some other bird that he didn’t like.

He also had a few choice comments on his way out which is typical for these guys. They often seem compelled to loudly announce their comings and goings.

Grey Sky

We have had more then our fair share of dreary, rainy, overcast skies lately. This recent osprey flight is an example of how the grey sky makes an almost totally white background.

But as with all the area birds, they still have to get out there and hunt down a meal despite how dismal the flying weather may be.

Frozen Flights

It was cold out at the salt marsh this afternoon, extremely cold. Despite that, the birds still have to be out fighting the wind gusts and going about their business.

At one point I realized that they have to be out in this cold I don’t. So… I stayed about ten minutes, just long enough to grab a few shots of some frozen looking birds flying across the reeds, then it’s back into a warm (well, sort of warm) house for me!

Not Expecting That

It was a bright, clear afternoon today but extremely cold and windy so not many birds were out there fighting the gusts.

When I first saw this great blue heron nestled down in among the reeds in the salt marsh, I assumed he was trying to stay out of the wind. But suddenly he jumped up and took flight across the marsh. I guess he was still looking for a nicer, warmer spot to settle in and hopefully hide from the stiff ocean breeze.

On The Move

Here’s a few flight shots of some of the white pelicans from yesterday. As they were going back and forth feeding in the shore line marsh area, they would occasionally take short flight hops to the other side. I tried to zero in on a main group, then as they got closer I attempted to focus in on a smaller number before finally picking out a single bird to track.

It’s really fun seeing these big guys take flight!

Pelicans And Ducks

There was a group of white pelicans fishing in the marsh near the beach this afternoon, but they had to share the area with several species of ducks that were also floating around enjoying their day.

The pelicans are huge birds and take up a lot of space so sometimes the ducks need to get out of the way and often in a hurry.