Phil Lanoue Photography

Woody’s Evening Snack

Last night our pal Woody snagged himself a fish out of the salt marsh. He walked around for a bit trying to get control of the yummy treat but he got it down fine. A few of his friends were nearby and jealous over the tasty snack, but too bad…they have to get their own!

One Last Look

Early this morning I spotted an osprey sitting in a tree along the edge of the marsh.

I took a couple of shots as I approached but within minutes the osprey took off and left the tree. He swung out wide and banked hard right then came soaring in right towards me. He flew directly over my head taking one last look at me before heading off toward the ocean.

This Guy Was Good!

This past week I was chasing a cormorant up and down the salt marsh area as he was swimming around fishing for dinner.

I saw him come up with several fish in the space of only ten minutes. He must have been not only full, but quite proud of his accomplishments. He triumphantly strutted for a bit before finally blasting off toward the other end of the marsh!

Oops…

An egret fishing in the salt marsh this afternoon lets one slip away. The bird was so shocked he lost his fish that he just stood there afterwards with a confused look on his face while the lucky fish swam off!

Bird On A Mission

Earlier this week a bald eagle was jetting across the marsh clearly with a serious purpose in mind.

The eagle was by me in an instant so I knew I was of no concern. An osprey fishing nearby may have been the intended target, but I’ll never know because the eagle was gone behind the trees in the time it took me to think about it.

High Speed Chase

Earlier this week I was out at the marsh when I noticed a gull being chased and harassed by another gull. I don’t normally pay much attention to the gulls but it looked like a seriously determined pursuit was going on so I figured why not grab a few shots.

I saw that the gull being chased had something in it’s beak which I assumed was a fish because that’s almost always what they argue over. But it looked odd, and not exactly fished shaped, so when I examined the photos closely later I saw that the gull had a small bird clutched tightly in his mouth!

I don’t recall ever seeing a gull flying with a bird in it’s beak so this was more then a little unusual. I figure it was probably a little tree swallow that we currently have flying all over the place here. Whether the gull caught the swallow or just found it already dead is unknown, but after utilizing some very speedy evasive maneuvers, the gull did get away from it’s pursuer and managed to successfully fly off with it’s prize.

Osprey Double Dipper

This morning I spotted an osprey flying right towards me from out over the salt marsh. It looked like he might have a fish in his talons so I got ready to bang off a few shots as he approached.

Well he sure did have a fish, but it wasn’t until I looked at the photos late that I realized he had two fish! One in each claw.

That osprey must have gotten very lucky either over the nearby ocean or out in the salt marsh, and was last seen flying toward the trees with his exceptional catch.

Looking For A Place To Land

This is one of the bald eagles that was flying around the marsh area Monday afternoon, and at one point he started to look down for a nice spot to land and relax for a while. At least I thought that was his plan. The eagle did indeed pick out a nice tree top branch to land in, but he stayed all of about one minute before jumping off to his next destination.

For birds that I normally see standing in one spot in a tree for hours, this eagle clearly had things to do, and staying put was not one of them!