Readers’ wildlife video

July 20, 2024 • 8:15 am

It must have been a few years since I posted a video by Tara Tanaka; I think she forgot about me! But I saw one of her video posts on FB and reconnected, asking permission to show her wildlife videos from her Florida property (there are several videos, so we have more to come).  This is one of them starring wood storks (Mycteria americana), and here’s her caption:

Last summer at this time the water level in our backyard cypress swamp was about 7′ lower than it is now, and dropping quickly. We had hundreds of Wood Stork nests, and many Great Egret and Anhinga nests as well as those of other wading bird species. We had up to 14 young Roseate Spoonbills visiting on different days in the late spring and early summer. It is rare for the adult storks to feed in our pond – my theory is that they are saving the fish and frogs for their soon to fledge youngsters, since once they begin flying they keep returning to the nest for some time – and having food right in their own backyard makes learning to fish and hunt a lot easier. Last year, however, the water was dropping so fast and there was so much concentrated prey, it’s possible that the adults knew that if they didn’t take advantage of it, the swamp would go dry and the fish would just be wasted. So they did what any intelligent stork would do – they gorged!! This period of time provided the most amazing scenes I’ve ever witnessed in 31 years of living here. It’s taken me a year to finally share it, but I hope you enjoy it!

Be sure to enlarge the video! Most of it save the end is speeded up deliberately, and there’s a great classical-music accompaniment which I, as an ignoramus, don’t recognize.  Thanks to Tara for granting permission to repost her videos (her Vimeo channel is here.)

39 thoughts on “Readers’ wildlife video”

  1. Such a pleasure to see another one of her videos! One can see that the birds tend to forage together in groups, and I wonder why that is.

    1. Thank you Mark! I think there are different reasons that birds forage together. I have seen one species of bird follow a different species in situations where the ‘followee’ is stirring up prey for the ‘follower,’ such as in this video around 1:30:

      At the end of that video the Great Blue Heron is shadowing an otter to try to get what it might send its way. Animal behavior is so fascinating!

    2. His music seems to capture the feeling I have when I’m creating videos – this is at least the second time I’ve used one of his pieces in a video.

  3. When birds forage in groups (or often fly), it tends to be a protective measure against predators. Someone in the group may see a predator before the others and give an alarm call or a predator may get confused by the sheer numbers. Whether that works against alligators, etc., I don’t know.

    So nice to see one of her videos again!

    1. That makes me happy that I could cheer you up! I’ve had to cut back my news consumption about 95%, and I feel so much better :-).

    2. YES! Something I can post to counteract the current political madness!
      Thanks to recent tornados and storms, have been without internet for a week, and came back to find dozens of competing conspiracy theories, in equal measure from both sides. I suspect this is what it’s going to be until the presidential election and beyond. And it won’t matter who “wins,” as all media wants the fighting to continue.

      1. Feel free to share! I have to immerse myself in nature to retain my sanity.

  7. So glad to see Tara’s video back on WEIT. I loved this gorgeous ballet, especially when I saw the pink of the Rosette Spoonbills. The music was just the perfect choice to accompany the corps de birds.
    Thank you and please keep them coming!

  12. Tara, thank you so much for your and your husband’s conservation efforts in northern Florida. Your property looks so beautiful and well-managed for wildlife.

    1. Thank you so much John! We are so fortunate to live here. It is our greatest pleasure to manage it for all of the creatures who live here.

  14. It’s still Saturday where I live, but the rest of you will have retired by now. Exquisite. Most enjoyable. As others have said, a most needed break from the stuff we’re bombarded by daily. What I really appreciate about this video is that it reminds me how much beauty remains in our environment. I sometimes fear we’ve spoiled it all. Very nice!

    1. Thank you Debi. Tuning out of the news and back into nature is very grounding.

  15. Very creative combination of time lapse with music which fits the storks movements perfectly.

  16. Amazing. Seeing such beauty helps to keep me sane, when so much of the world seems to be going crazy.

  18. I can’t do anything about the madness, but for those who are finding some peace in nature videos, here are two that are especially calming, and one to make you laugh (kind of like a “desert” video) 🙂

  19. Great videos. Very enjoyable to watch.
    I think I counted 8 different species in the original video.

Comments are closed.