Phil Lanoue Photography
I previously worked as a news and sports photographer. Recently I have been enjoying wildlife photography. My approach toward bird photos is similar to sports photography. I attempt to capture mostly action and hopefully a unique perspective.
It Was A Nice Quiet Crowd Out There Until…
We had a big crowd of spoonbills and wood storks out this evening and at one point many of them ended up congregating in a near corner of the salt marsh.
Everyone was calm and quiet as the evening feeding was mostly concluded and they were all just standing around socializing and relaxing.
Until… something spooked them and the entire group decided all at once that they had to leave and it had to be right now!
Suddenly the whole bunch of them exploded in a flash of pink and white and they all took off out across the pond area heading for the trees. This capped off an amazing evening when we had 14 spoonbills (and Radar) all fishing in the salt marsh at the same time. It’s a new record!
Snowball’s Big Score
This past week I saw this snowy egret doing some early morning fishing in the salt marsh. Normally we see snowys catch little minnows and tiny glass shrimp, but this guy clearly wanted a big breakfast. He plucked himself a nice size fish out of the water which should keep the little fellow full for a while!
High Drama At The Marsh
This afternoon I was over at the marsh watching some spoonbills feeding off in the distance and hoping they might eventually fly my way.
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I spot this bald eagle come screaming in at full speed and I knew he must be on a mission! He flew right over my head, so close I could not fit all of him in the camera lens. I immediately saw the object of his attention, he was chasing an osprey that was carrying a partially consumed fish. It’s likely the osprey was relaxing in a tree eating his catch when he got rudely chased out by the eagle.
I could tell from the look on the eagle’s face that he meant serious business and he proceeded to chase the osprey all over the marsh area, from water to tree top level.
The osprey was trying his hardest to use evasive flying maneuvers to lose the eagle but he just couldn’t shake the big guy.
Finally the osprey flew out over the salt marsh where he finally dropped the fish in the water. From a distance I saw the eagle swoop down and try for a grab but he missed it and the fish was now forever lost to both raptors.
Earlier in the day I did notice the bald eagle sitting in a far off tree and now I know what he was waiting for… once again the eagle is fine with letting another bird do all the work while he patiently lurks in the background.
Another One Got Away!
Some of you may remember seeing the post from earlier this week where an anhinga lost it’s fish in a daring mid air escape.
Well this afternoon I was watching this spoonbill fishing in the salt marsh when I saw it catch a fish and the spoonie seemed to have the fish firmly grasped in it’s spatula shaped bill. But then, to both my and the spoonbill’s astonishment, the fish flopped out and dove to freedom!
The spoonbill tried to recapture the fish with a quick lunge and grab, but the fish successfully flew away from spoonie and out of my frame.
The now angry looking pink bird plunged it’s bill back into the water in an attempt to recapture the fish but no luck for spoonie but score one more for a lucky fish!
Quick Hop Across The Marsh
This past week I enjoyed watching a spoonbill jump off from the salt marsh at low tide and take a quick flight over to another spot.
The first location looked good enough to me, but what do I know? 🙂
Chasing… Something
Snowy Egrets seem to spend a large portion of their lives in a state of constant agitation. They look for any reason to get themselves all fluffed and puffed so they can start squawking and chasing something.
In truth, they don’t even need an actual reason to get all fired up. Snowys are completely capable of working themselves into a state of frenzy over… well, nothing.
Such was the case last week when I saw snowball get himself fluffed up and start to run full speed across the salt marsh for no reason that I could see. I’m sure in his mind this behavior was totally required, but I never could locate the object of his excitement.
That’s a good part of the fun of watching snowys, they are always up to something, and it’s usually very entertaining. 🙂
One Lucky Fish…One Unhappy Bird
This past weekend I was watching an anhinga doing some early morning fishing in the marsh pond.
At one point she came up with a fish, then did a perfect mid air flip and what looked like was going to be a perfect catch except… the fish bounced off the lower portion of the anhinga’s bill, and splashed into the water where it was able to make a speedy escape!
Score one for the fortunate fish, but zero points for the disappointed anhinga.
Oh well, more where that came from, and this bird will go right back in and try again…
Shopping For Dinner
Alligator on a recent evening out in the marsh looking for something to make for dinner. Well, maybe “make” isn’t the proper word, I suppose it’s more like something to quickly grab and gulp down. That’s not so different than many of our dinner plans at times. 🙂
Phil Lanoue Photography 