Have you ever seen a wood stork? That is a question I was asked a few weeks ago. I photograph a lot of birds. As result, I can identify more birds today than I could about 2 years ago. I don’t really consider myself a birder, but, I’m making some progress.
For that reason, during that discussion about bird photography, I simply responded, “No, I don’t think so”. It wasn’t on my list of birds I could identify. He continued to describe the wood stork saying that from the neck down – it was a beautiful white bird, but the face and the beak was not so beautiful. He described it perfectly.
I immediately recalled a similar bird that I shot when I was at Huntington Beach State Park. I visited the park during a family vacation to Myrtle Beach. I remembered thinking that I had taken a few good shots of a bird that wasn’t so attractive from the neck up. I liked the images, and I believe I posted them on Facebook. As it turned out… I had seen a wood stork; I just didn’t know it. I have added it to my list.
Nature didn’t seem do the bird any favors in the appearance department. It looks like a cross between an Egret and a Buzzard. In my opinion, it has the kind of face only a mother wood stork can love. With that being said, I’m not sure how much they get photographed. I imagine that most people usually find more visually pleasing birds nearby to shoot.
So I’m writing this to show some love to the wood stork.
