A few dozen wading birds had gathered for easy pickings of fish in the low water as the pond was draining for repairs to be made to the outlet piping. A Wood Stork had the newly exposed Alligator ramp all to himself and wanted to keep it that way.
A few of the Great Egrets were squabbling over a spot on the ramp while The Wood Stork stood his ground on the high end.
They all settled in a truce, for a few minutes.
The water level in this pond is normally maintained at about three feet (1 meter) in this section, leaving just the top of the ramp exposed. The duck weed, mosquito fern and other aquatic plants settled in a drape over the Alligator ramp as the water drained out.
Cool to see a Stork.
Are they rare?
Paz
They are cool, and so prehistoric looking. After decades of successful conservation efforts Wood Storks have been downgrades from am endangered to a threatened species in the US. I don’t think they go much further north than Charleston and we see small flocks of them in a few places. Destruction of their preferred habitat in Florida, mostly the Everglades and other areas that had the “right” water cycle, almost wiped them out there.
A very familiar story, sadly, but glad to hear they are rebounding.
We’ve lost a lot of ground in the past, but it seems the tide is turning slightly for some of our planet’s nearly-lost treasures.
Thanks for the info.
Paz