Thriving Wood Stork Colony

 

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As a follow up to Friday’s little exhausted wood stork chick, I’ve gathered a few other images from the rookery visit to show a little more of this amazingly thriving colony! Wood storks have been downlisted on the Endangered Species list here in Florida, something we can be grateful for as it means this interesting and elegant species is doing very well. I can remember when I did not know what a wood stork was and any view of one when I finally did know was very distant and few in number. I’d stop the car on a roadside swale if I ever spied one of these large wading birds fishing in a canal. To be able to watch them raise their families is a treat!!

The image above is yesterday’s chick with it parent at the nest. There is a sibling there as well.

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Another wood stork nest with three siblings. I particularly
liked the leg foot hold on the chick to the upper right.

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I admit I am fascinated with bird's feet. This just
a closer up view of that foot hold pose.

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Here we see yet another nest and this shot demonstrates
the reverse knee bend of the wading birds (at least
as compared to humans). The white streaks you see
down the legs of wood storks are urates, a combination of
urine and feces which they squirt upon themselves for
cooling. This habit starts right away.

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I often say that if I could paint the birds I would and not having that
talent...I take pictures. This is just a little bit of play
with some photoshop water color brushes to give a painterly
feel. The image was converted to black and white first and masked.
Color was added back in selectively on the face of the bird,
 the leaves, branches and the water color brushes were used to 
splotch the blue sky back in with a painterly look. This is only
for what it is worth as I have lot to learn if I want
a photograph to actually look like a painting.

♦

Judy

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~ by Judy on April 29, 2017.