Storks!

When we went to Florida in Feb./March

we saw lots of fun tropical birds.

I had never seen a real stork up close

and a friend of mine knew of a little pond to take me to

in a subdivision that has storks that visit there

all the time, along with ibis and egrets.

I was all for that, so off we went with my camera in hand!!

My first impression was that they had a face

only a mother could love.

They have a turkey buzzard type of face:

But as I stayed near them a while, they began to fascinate me:

They had these neat black feathers under all that white...but they walked and didn't fly, so I never did get a shot of their beautiful black and white wings.

Their faces looked more reptilian next to their white, soft feathers...like it was a mis-match of parts that The Force put together:

He used his long beak like chinese chopsticks:

Pretty brown eyes though:

I LOVED the fluffy chin tuft of feathers under his face:

Oh MY! He spoke!:

Wow...the texture in his face!:

All those ibis and only two storks! They are royalty in the neigborhood and they feed them:

"I should be GETTING royalties for all the pictures you are taking, lady!":

"You probably can't tell (because my eyes point to the side), but I AM staring at you right now!":

Okay--I admit it now...I think he has his own unique beauty.

"I always win over the ladies, once they get to know me!":

"Look at this handsome profile!":

 That's it....keep posing for me, pretty bird!

An action shot!:

Preening!:

When we went to Homosassa Springs Nature State Park, there was a whole BUNCH of them!:

I wonder if they were looking at US...

and

saying how ugly they thought WE were....

but maybe we convinced them that we have our own kind of beauty, too....

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