Wood Stork

Yesterday, a wood stork landed in a dead pine tree in our yard. I was alerted by the kids next door and Penny and I went out to check it out. Amy thought it was a crane, but she didn't know. They were all asking me, so I pulled out our handy-dandy Audubon Society "Field Guide to North American Birds" and discovered that it was a wood stork. Wood storks are an endangered species in North America. There are only about 5 to 6 thousand breeding pairs in the US (5 if you ask fish and wildlife, 6 if you ask south Florida developers), so it was really cool to see one, let alone have one roost in our yard. The bird stayed in our tree overnight and did not leave until mid-morning. I was concerned that something might be wrong with it since I read that they are very social and live in large groups. They also mate for life. I emailed someone from fish and wildlife this morning and he told me that he figured the bird would move on shortly (which it did) and that unless it stayed the rest of the day, it was probably just in the area looking for fish. They frequent the St Marks NWR and there is a breeding area on Lake Lafayette up by Chaires, so I figure it was probably passing through en route. It was a very large bird - over three feet tall, and kind of funny to see it perched on its wading bird legs and feet up on a tree branch.