EGRETS GREAT & SNOWY FOR SUNNY GREAT ABACO & SNOWY ELSEWHERE!

There’s nothing to beat a superlative sequence of narrative photos taken by someone with great skill, a very good eye and an excellent camera (that’s me out of it, on all 3 counts). The two sequences below are from PHIL LANOUE, a highly experienced wildlife photographer who specialises in birds and… alligators (I’ll do the ‘taking snaps’ joke, thank you). He posts almost daily, and it’s a morning treat to see what he has captured on his salt marshes. Very often it is a compelling wildlife action sequence showing the trials and tribulations of bird territory sharing; or the joys and disappointments of fishing… the ones that get away!

GREAT EGRETS

You’ll soon see why the egret is taking flight – a rival is fiercely seeing him off, including an attempted leg or foot grab. That may not have succeeded, but I think he made his point…

SNOWY EGRET FISHING

You can tell that this bird is motionless while hunting – there are no ripples at all round its legs. That sharp beak is poised for the sudden, rapid strike. As it stabs down, it shows its distinctive yellow feet and leg markings. The fish emerges firmly gripped sideways, and is effortlessly flipped round for immediate consumption,

These are the sorts of pictures I would love to be able to take. Anyone would. But I am going to have to graduate to something a great deal more sophisticated than my trusty Lumix bridge camera and its fixed zoom extension. It has a Leica lens, which counts for a lot, but an upgrade to SLR is on the horizon. First I need to get stuck into some serious work on manual settings. I have a mountain to climb – I’m still hanging around Base Camp!