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With their big bill, naked head and long legs, Wood Storks look ungainly, almost ugly, but they are perfect at what they do.
Large black and white wading birds of Florida and the American tropics, they feed in shallow water by moving slowly along with head down and bill slightly open. When they contact a fish, the bill snaps shut in just 25 milliseconds鈥攖he fastest reaction time known for a bird. But it takes a lot of small fish to fill up a stork, so they are selective about their feeding areas.
Wood Storks nest in trees, often in big colonies, and they nest only when conditions are just right for them. Because of their feeding technique, they thrive in the early part of the dry season, when receding floodwaters concentrate fish in small pools. But this method of feeding is effective only when the rainy season is normal.
In some years, increased droughts brought about by global climate change prevent Wood Storks from breeding at all. Then their perfect adaptation to their environment becomes a worrisome drawback.
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Bird sounds are provided by at the , Ithaca, New York. Wood Stork colony 36980 recorded by Oliver Hewitt; Wood Stork bill clapping 135422 and ambient sounds recorded by Michael Andersen.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
Written by Dennis Paulson
漏 2015 Tune In to Nature.org March 2015 Narrator: Michael Stein