Tara Tanaka hasn’t sent a video in a while, but she has a bunch in the pipeline and I hope we’ll get some soon. (Her Vimeo site is here and Flickr site here.) This one was shot on her property in Florida and was posted a month ago. Here are the notes:
The birds in our backyard wildlife sanctuary have had a good nesting season. The water is very low, and it’s a great level for wading birds to feed. All of the Wood Storks are recent fledglings – the adults are going somewhere else to get food for themselves and for the storks still in their nests. The US Fish and Wildlife Service flew an aerial survey in early June and counted 175 Wood Stork nests. The Little Blue Herons also had a good season – I’ve seen at least 5 youngsters. The Great Egrets in the video may be juveniles or adults, I’m not sure, and I think the Snowy Egrets are adults, and there is at least one adult Little Blue Heron in the video.
This was the first morning that the birds were so close – they usually feed back in the cypress trees, but it was a treat to be able to capture this video from the back deck on this mid-July morning.
I like the bustle of the birds, and how the storks stick their bills into the mud then use one foot to help find the food. All the bird sounds are great, too.
Lots of interesting interaction going on in the video. Nice to see all the different birds feeding and hanging out in harmony. The sounds are soothing. Thanks for sharing.
Great video as always, Tara! You invest a lot of time, patience and effort in producing these wonderful gems, so thank you for sharing them. Your sanctuary is more than a bit of Eden.
Wow! Beautiful photography!
Fine film. Nice and sharp. I wonder what exactly they are eating. Fish? Bugs? Frogs? You wouldn’t think there’d be much left after they get through.
Thanks very much everyone!
I think they’re eating anything alive, including tadpoles, fish and frogs. A large portion of the swamp was drying up about a month before I shot this video and the storks were catching fish that were too big for them to swallow, but I think the once seemingly endless supply has finally run out.
You have such a wonderful back garden, Tara. Thank you for sharing the garden and its inhabitants with us!