Tara Tanaka has a brand-new video of young Wood Storks (Mycteria americana) feeding. Be sure to go to the Vimeo page and watch in in high-definition and enlarged. Her notes:
I was photographing birds when I saw this pair of Wood Stork chicks bowing and calling in unison, and decided it could only be properly shared with video. As I watched I realized that one of the parents was on a limb above them, and they were imploring mom or dad to come and feed them. Every heron, egret and stork species I’ve observed seems to have its own calls and movements that it uses to get the parent to feed it. It almost appears that the nestling’s movements and sounds might help the adult regurgitate the meal it’s brought back to the nest. I couldn’t see it through the viewfinder, but I was really surprised to see just how many fish the adult was able to bring back in one trip.
Shot with the GH4 + Nikon 300mm f2.8 using manual focus.
Tara added that the mom “looked like a fish vending machine.”
The Cornell bird site says this about Wood Storks:
A large, white, bald-headed wading bird of the southeastern swamps, the Wood Stork is the only stork breeding in the United States. Its late winter breeding season is timed to the Florida dry season when its fish prey become concentrated in shrinking pools.
And the range map:
Great video.
Thanks so much!
Really great stuff. It’s like a feeding frenzy all the time in the Stork family. I watch the Herons and Egrets around here but the Storks all all way south.
Thanks Randall!
The kids do eat eagerly. It can’t be too long ’till they fledge.
Looks like any day!
Vending machine indeed! At one point you can see a big fish coming up as a distinct bulge in mamas neck.
It looks like a better deal for the Wood Stork parents than the Great Egrets whose chicks grab their beaks and shake violently!
I would hope such behavior is isolated to Aves. Mammalian moms would have it pretty bad. 😉
Very cool video!
Thanks Heather!
Nice video…. Have a great weekend…🌹