Fall is one of my favorite times of year in the wetlands. The weather is getting cooler and the humidity is gone. Everything is still mostly lush and green. But the Bald Cypress are beginning to look bare as their needle-like leaves turn rust-colored and fall to the ground (read more cool info about Bald […]
Tag Archives: Wood Stork
Despite their prevalence here in our local wetlands, I haven’t posted in a very long time about Wood Storks. The Wood Stork is a “bald-headed wading bird [that] stands just over 3 feet tall, towering above almost all other wetland birds.” (All About Birds). The adult’s head is bald and scaly in appearance, and its […]
The Wood Stork “… is the only stork breeding in the United States and was placed on the Federal Endangered Species list in 1984. The species was downlisted from endangered to threatened in June 2014, reflecting a successful conservation and recovery effort spanning three decades.” (many more details here: National Park Service) The previously endangered […]
This time of year, our Wood Storks stay pretty relaxed, singing and/or . . . . . . dancing.By next month, we’ll start seeing them doing pirouettes overhead.Then the crowds will arrive, and the Wood Storks will start taking over ALL the nesting tree islands!And then, come February and March, the huge fluffy Wood Storks will […]
This thoughtful Wood Stork‘s shaggy appearance makes him look like a wise old bird. But his pale, pinkish beak, and gray neck and head feathers, tell us that he is a juvenile, and distinguish him from older Wood Storks, who have dark bills and bald, scaly heads (see the ID section on All About Birds – Wood Stork)The […]
I love this quote from author Jonathan Rosen’s wonderful book, Life of the Skies . . .! “Everyone is a birdwatcher, but there are two kinds of birdwatchers: those who know what they are and those who haven’t realized it yet.”
The juvenile Wood Storks are getting bigger now, and there are lots of them in the nesting trees at one of our local preserves.They are so coy and – I dare say – cute, with their impossibly large bills and fuzzy heads! Our Wood Storks are among the later nesting birds. They breed “. . . just in […]
Quite by serendipity the other day, I was suddenly confronted by some news on social media that saddened and shocked me . . . a dear acquaintance had died quite unexpectedly at her home a few days ago. Nora was her name.I really didn’t know Nora very well – we’d met a couple of years […]
This past week, our Shabbat Torah reading, which was the second portion of the Book of Devarim (Deuteronomy), opened with one of the most poignant and moving statements ever made by the great leader Moshe Rabbenu (Moses). G-d has previously told Moshe that, despite Moshe’s great love for Eretz Israel, he will never enter the […]
Birder's Journey 