It’s impressive how these bigger birds can fly fast right into branches and brush, and not crash.
How many of us can walk slowly through the woods without banging into things?
Egret Landing In The Thickets
Category Archives: Stork
First Light, Wood Stork, Little Blue Heron
The golden light was over powering, I took the shot anyway.
If this wasn’t so clearly an ‘Odd Couple’ image I never would have kept it.
Sharing Space, Cormorant, Wood Stork
Sometimes the available seating is limited.
The make adjustments.
Gliding Wood Stork
This is another photograph taken out in the large marshes. Most all of the Storks I photograph are from there.
These large birds want open spaces, marshland, and I rarely see them in the swamps. Most are shy also, people are usually not in these marshes.
I think the Storks are becoming more tolerant of people and smaller spaces, they are seen more often near beach communities. This is probably a good thing, people are encroaching on their territories every day. Survival may depend on it.
The Survivor, A Series
A series being run on our black and white site.
The Survivor, A Series
This is a Wood Stork, native to the Americas. It is the only Stork in North America and has been fighting for it’s survival in a shrinking environment for years.
Against all odds, it’s winning. With environmental laws shrinking, climate changes increasing, and competition from other species this may not last.
A collection of images is being compiled here to present this calm and ancient bird to people who may never have the privilege to see them or even hear their powerful wings as they fly by.
This is a true survivor.
Big Bird, Pun Intended
I’ll grab as many shots as possible around now, the Storks should be slowly moving south.
Some do breed around here, but not many. The closest true breeding area is mid Florida, 4 – 5 hours south.
Gentle Giant, Wood Stork
Of all the big birds out here the Wood Stork is the most calm.
They are slow movers and almost appear lazy, but looks are deceiving since this is the wild and everything works hard to survive.
I am partial to them just for this untroubled appearance.
A Few From The Edge Of A Marsh
Recently I noticed a number of photographs from the same general area, similar light, yet different birds and scenes. As I found one I liked, and was slightly different, I made a small collection, and of course had to shrink that even further.
The common theme here is the dark, fully grown and covered , dike wall in the background. Here the dike is perhaps 10-12 feet tall (3.5 m), covered in grasses and reeds, with a wide flat top. This dike separates 2 large marshes and allows control over water depth and flow. The South Carolina Lowcountry has thousands of these dikes. Some dating back hundreds of years.
Above a Great Blue Heron mixed in with a few Wood Storks. It looked like the Storks got along better with the Heron than each other.
Here a Wood Stork plodded through the water, a Great Egret can be seen in the background.
I’m fairly sure all these images were taken in the morning which explains the dark reflections and brown shading. Typical fall look around there.
Along the dikes, and just a short distance into the marsh many small islands of reeds have grown up. Most are under water half the time but when the marshes are low they become crowded with animals, like this Great Blue Heron landing.
The Great Egret above and the Blue Herons are year round residents. It’s rare to get cold enough for any ice to form (but it does). Wood Storks, Spoonbills, and other true tropical birds will winter further south for a few months.
Last is the apex predator here, an Alligator. If there is a dry, preferably muddy, spot on the dike bank one of these will be near.
As I’m finishing this I found one more common thread with all these photographs and animals. They are all predators.
