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.
Big Bird, Pun Intended
Category Archives: Stork
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.
Wood Stork Moving To Tree, Always An Adventure
Resting in a big tree, big branches, they do that well. The thin old dead trees, that can get tricky.
Storks have huge feet and weirdly long toes. Hanging on takes real work.
This one made it fine. However, I have seen Wood Storks give up after a few tries. They are made for walking in water.
Marsh Scene
Recently I have been gathering a group of photographs that show the colors and scenery of life in a Lowcountry marsh.
This image was to be included in that series however I’m finding a large number of images that could be included. I shoot a lot, sometimes I think too much.
Working on this I thought to publish it as a standalone here. Probably an easy way to keep the image without having too many for the final series.
Anyway…
Stork In Flight
I hope to get a little more creative with my titles in 2019, not more like this.
I have no issues with the photography, but I am running out of titles.
We are getting close to 5,000 pages on this web site, most all have 3 or more photographs, and we have published new articles every day for at least 2 years.
Titles… there must be an app for that.
Safe Landing In The Reeds, Stork
This time of year much of the thick reeds have been snapped and broken. Not a place to land without being careful.
Most will land right at the edge to avoid the sharp ends.
I thought this one got in a little close, but it worked out.
A Small Crowd
- A bit of an odd mixture here, but an interesting image. The dark birds are Double-crested Cormorants. This Wood Stork was not bothered by their presence at all.
When finishing this photograph it occurred to me Cormorants had been strangely missing lately. Now I wonder if they move north for the late summer months. One more thing to research.
