Wood Storks and their unique way of feeding...

I could not believe my luck when I saw this small group of Wood Storks (Mycteria americana). They were feeding in the shallows along the driveway to the Pinckney Island NWR. It was my last day of vacation and I was leaving the park. I was glum and morose, and just like a kid dragging her feet, I was driving slowly with the windows open, watching the water and the grasses, trying to wring out every last bit of the island that I could. Leaving Pinckney is never fun, but suddenly, zing! yes!! happiness!!! -- Wood Storks were feeding about 50 feet away in the shallows...

A juvenile Wood Stork feeding in the shallows at Pinckney Island NWR in South Carolina.

I pulled the car over and watched the small flock through the binocs. The birds were feeding, and I could see them stirring the water with their feet. They had their bills open in the water, waiting for a fish or crab to make contact. After a while, I got out of the car, crossed over and sat down behind the grasses. I remained still and quiet, and they went about their business of fishing and eating...

...a juvenile Wood Stork fishes with his bill open, waiting for a fish or crab to make contact.

Woods Storks have a unique way of catching their prey. They like to forage in shallow water with large concentrations of fish or crabs where they hold their bills open in the water. When a fish or crab makes contact with the bill, it triggers a snap-shut reflex, and the Wood Stork nabs its dinner without ever having to see into the murky water. Because Wood Storks are tactile feeders and do not have to see their prey to catch it, their method of feeding is called "grope-feeding" or "tacto-location." Click here for a detailed explanation of this feeding method and other information on Wood Storks.

In the following video, you can see the Wood Stork stirring the water with its foot, then scooping up a little crab. At the end of the video, I put some of the action in slow motion to better see the Wood Stork eating a little crab...

Wood Stork Feeding in the Shallows by "Foot Stirring" from Kelly Riccetti on Vimeo.

A Wood Stork uses "foot stirring" to drum up some lunch. 

The Wood Stork is endangered in the United States, so I was especially happy to have been in the right place at the right time to see this small flock of Wood Storks...even if it was my last day of vacation.

Wood Storks are doing well in Georgia and South Carolina, and the government is thinking about changing their status from endangered to threatened. Click here for an NPR article and broadcast of the story.

Wood Storks are large birds. This guy was over three feet tall. I loved watching him move slowly through the water.

An adult and a juvenile Wood Stork walk single file. The adult is on the left. Check out that bald, scaly, woody looking head. On the right is the juvenile Wood Stork, still fresh and new and covered in feathers. 

In part two of this series I'll focus on the adult Wood Stork's face, so you can see how different a juvenile and an adult look. I took these photos on June 19, 2012.

Wood Storks at Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge (near Hilton Head Island, SC)

Birding Hilton Head Island and Pinckney Island NWR…continued from Tuesday’s Great Egret Post

The heat was really starting to build, so I walked closer to the salt marsh and deeper under the live oaks to escape the sun for a bit. As I walked, I was looking down at the ground. It was so different from what I was used to. White sand had swept in from the salt marsh, and individual blades of grass had poked through the sand and were growing thick and green. Dappled shade thrown from the live oak’s leaves cast bluish shadows on the white sand, while in patches where the sun seeped through, the sand was snowy white. I stopped and wrote about it in my journal because I knew it was something exquisite that I would forget with my next step, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t do that.

Soon I reached the “back” part of the rookery. On the right, the salt marsh had slowly morphed into a pine forest. I continued to walk and watched a Great Egret land in the boughs ahead, only for a second or two, then take off again for a better perch. I knew the Wood Storks were roosting somewhere in the pines, so I was watching carefully, but didn’t see anything. Coming up on the next section of the rookery, the bird density was picking back up, and as I scanned an expansive reed bed, an adult Green Heron materialized right before my eyes. He was frozen among the stalks, bill pointed toward the water, so I locked in on him, hoping to watch him lurch forward to stab a fish, but then out of the corner of my eye I saw movement in the pines to my right, and when I looked up, there they were! A small flock of Wood Storks were resting in the branches. Another life bird for me. As I watched them through the camera lens, I knew they wouldn’t register high on the “classic” beauty scale, but just like the Turkey Vultures, they have their own unique, prehistoric beauty. I couldn’t take my eyes off them (and temporarily forgot about the Green Heron).

Although not "classic" beauty, a dignified, 

peaceful demeanor makes these birds irresistible. 

...that is until they start joking around! It looks like I told 

this guy a funny joke (and he really liked the punch line), 

but really he's just panting in the heat to cool down. 

"I'm in a tree, and I think I'll try to do Tree. 

I love yoga. I am Yoga-Stork!"

"Haha...you're a Goofball-Stork!"

...again...more thermoregulation---panting, panting 

(which is really cool to watch), but I prefer to think they 

are discussing last night's skit on "Late Night with 

Jimmy Fallon," which was very funny.