30 June 2010

Juvenile Wood Stork


Everyday at the wetlands is a new surprise. Sometimes there are birds all about and other times it is oddly quite. The Wood Stork is one of my favorite birds. We never have Wood Storks at Green Cay every day but they come often and usually the young birds stay for a few days at a time. This juvenile Wood Stork paid us a visit recently.


After preening this Wood Stork stalked off in search of food. I love their methodical feeding behavior. It's mesmerizing watching the Wood Stork open it's mouth, kick its leg around in the mud, take a step forward, and repeat the process over and over again.

The great thing about Wood Storks are they are very easy to find in South Florida. I see them lining the canals on my way to work, flying high over the interstate, and of course at the wetlands. We don't have Wood Storks nesting at Green Cay but I'm sure there is a rookery at Loxahatchee NWR and we reap the benefits of the young visiting us. Next time you need a Wood Stork fix you should consider South Florida. I know you can find them nesting all the way up into Georgia but there's nothing better than seeing them on their native nesting range.

1 comment:

The Florida Blogger said...

There are plenty of these birds in Central Florida drainage ditches.