Tuesday, May 28, 2013

The Wood Stork

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

For this week's wild bird  I am posting about the Wood Storks we saw while vacationing in Florida. They were mostly seen in the Everglades National Park and some in the Corkscrew Sanctuary. I have mentioned before it is one of my lifers from Florida.


The Florida Wood Stork a long legged wading bird and is listed as an endangered species.

They are about 45 inches tall and their wing span is about 60-65 inches. Their head and neck area are missing the feathers. They are mostly white except for the lack on the primaries


Wood Stork rookery in the Everglades National Park.


Love this shot of their large wings stretched out..  Due to adverse water management practices in Florida the nesting Wood Storks have shifted their nesting colonies. The Everglades restoration project includes the needs of the Wood Stork and their nesting success



The Wood Stork is a highly colonial species nesting in large rookeries and feeding in flocks. We saw a lot of Wood Stork babies.They can lay eggs as early as October and fledge by February or March.

I hope you enjoyed my Wild Bird post. Thanks for stopping by and for leaving your nice comments.
Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes.
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday and thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.
I wish everyone a happy week ahead and Happy Birding!



54 comments:

  1. i love the glint of green in those wing feathers! i cannot believe i had the fortune of seeing one stop here a few years ago one winter. i was in awe of its prehistoric self!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hallo Eileen!!Great post!!Wonderful pictures!I have'nt seen a stork in my life!And i realy like these beautiful birds!Thank you for sharing!Have a lovely week!
    Dimi..

    ReplyDelete
  3. the woodstork is a charming bird in it´s own way. Love to see your shots as I did see this one in CR.

    ReplyDelete
  4. How neat to see them in a rookery setting, Eileen! There are some in Crystal River, Fla., where my mom lives, but I've never seen their rookery. Really neat to see here on your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great shots of the storks. Love the last one showing the contrast on the wings. Glad you got to see them all on your trip.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great photos, liked seeing the huge wingspan . . .

    ReplyDelete
  7. I didn't realize they were that big - - Nice shots!

    ReplyDelete
  8. love the wide spread wing shot. nice!! ( :

    ReplyDelete
  9. These are wonderful shots, and I enjoyed reading about these beautiful birds. I've never seen a stork, and it's always fun to see photos of new birds.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Those are magnificent birds. Great shots you got of them too.

    ReplyDelete
  11. You got some great images Eileen, it has a dinosaur like feel and an awesome wing span!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. HI Eileen Great shopts of the Storks; I like seeing them all at the Rookery.

    Margaret

    ReplyDelete
  13. lots of them; great place to visit Eileen; you got some wonderful snapshots

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great shots of this spectacular bird. I enjoyed them very much.

    ReplyDelete
  15. They are such a strange looking bird. Great captures!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Love that first picture of the stork. What a fabulous photo!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thank you sharing these wonderful photos of the wood stork. It is an amazing bird.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Beautiful bird, the Wood Stork. I especially love the last picture showing their wing spread and colors.... Beautiful GREEN color.

    Hugs,
    Betsy

    ReplyDelete
  19. The wing span in the last photo is so wide.

    I need to remove word verification,. came to your right wing, but I can't click it to open.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Nice series on Wood Stork! Me too saw few of them in Shark Valley area of Everglades!

    ReplyDelete
  21. A great series of photos and an interesting bird.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Great photos, Eileen. Wood Storks are so neat, I hope I get the chance to see them one day.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Great behavioural shots; I also shot it in FL but it was too far away.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Great photos of the Storks, Eileen.
    The first picture is totally awesome.
    Regards, Irma

    ReplyDelete
  25. I love this post Eileen, I am very fond of these storks! I love how in the last image you caught the subtle iridescence in the black wing feathers.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Good to see a nest colony of these birds - even if they wont win any beauty prizes!

    Cheers and thanks for linking to WBW

    Stewart M - Melbourne

    ReplyDelete
  27. What a nice place to visit! Love to see this wood storks, we don't have them here in Sweden.
    Good photos too, Eileen! /Pia

    ReplyDelete
  28. Amazing how graceful the stork can look in flight--this one especially with its dramatic wing span. And what good luck that you got this exciting closeup of the rookery.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I've not seen this fine creature! It has quite a dramatic look to it and I really like the last photo.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Wow - fabulous photos. It is a treat to see photos of birds we might never see in person.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I love our wood storks! I'm glad you got to see them and of course your pictures are wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  32. HI Eileen...I total missed out on WBW...those holidays mess me up every time!! : )
    Amazing shots such a big bird..love the rookery shot with all those little ones!!
    That last shot is great!!
    Grace

    ReplyDelete
  33. Those wing feathers are just gorgeous! What a large wingspan. Love the photos!

    ReplyDelete
  34. Its a very interesting post! I learnt a lot of things for the wood storks!!
    Thanks for sharing!!

    ReplyDelete
  35. To see that many in one spot and yet know they are on the endangered list is disheartening. Hoping the restoration project of the Everglades helps to change that.
    Love that last shot of the feather detail!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Wonderful photos of the wood stork Eileen. Years ago when we were in Florida near Sebastian I think it was, we saw a fishing boat had just docked and they were throwing away surplus fish, which of course weren't wasted because they attracted the local birds. One of them was a wood stork and I have never forgotten it because it was my lifer. Thank you for these brilliant photographs, and enjoy the rest of your week.

    ReplyDelete
  37. It`s amazing how much beautiful birds there is in you area:))

    Just love it:))

    ReplyDelete
  38. Very interesting post and I love the photos. The storks are pretty and, wow, what a wing span!

    ReplyDelete
  39. That is an impressive wingspan. So that IS where babies come from! Baby storks, anyway...;)

    ReplyDelete
  40. You visited another great place Eileen. Not content with the lifer you go and photgraph a whole rookery of the storks. Great pictures which capture the life of the colony and the behaviour of the birds.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Beautiful shots! I love the last one.

    ReplyDelete
  42. You have introduced to us your feathered friends.

    Thank youu.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Just had a Wood Stork visit our back yard, the first in a long time. Good to see that they are nesting in the Everglades. Thousands formerly bred in Corkscrew Swamp and there have not been any at all the past few years. As you point out, disturbance of the water cycle is responsible.

    ReplyDelete
  44. I always enjoy your birding posts Eileen.... Michelle

    ReplyDelete
  45. I had no idea we have Storks here. This would be an exciting find for me. Great shots of them moving in and around. Looks like Florida is full of fun. Although to be honest....mosquitoes and humidity may be a little too much:)

    ReplyDelete
  46. we have birds that look a bit like this that roost in the trees at the back of my parents place.
    Have a wonderful weekend - and thanks for stoppping by my blog this week.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Hi Eileen, These birds are on my must-see list. Have not found one yet but likely will in coming months. Have a super good Sat. tomorrow!

    ReplyDelete
  48. I love the rookery photo. Baby birds are my favorite.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Love your photos of the rookery!! so much excitement all the time in a rookery!

    ReplyDelete
  50. Beautiful photos and my favourite is the moon shot.

    ReplyDelete

Hello, thank you for visiting my blog. I always appreciate your comments.

BTW, Anonymous comments unless a name is included will not be published. Also, comments with links will be deleted.

Have a happy day, Eileen

Happy Monday!

Wishing everyone a great day and a ha ppy new week! "Sometimes miracles are just good people with kind hearts." Rick's Cafe, N...