The Wood Stork (Mycteria americana) is an “indicator species” of the Everglades, and it tells us much about the health of the imperiled ecosystem. The breeding success of the species depends on the region’s complex water cycles and their effect on food availability. If storks fail to breed any one year, it is likely due to poor management of our wetlands, which have been diked and controlled for several decades. Stork diet includes many species of small fish, crabs, crayfish, snakes, frogs, young alligators, rodents, and occasionally the young of other bird species. Wood Storks typically wade with their open bills in shallow water, snapping them shut very quickly at the slightest touch of food matter.
Detail of “Wood Storks at Paurotis Pond.” This watercolor is being done on site, while observing the birds through Leica APO-Televid 65 and 77 scopes.
Below are various works in progress featuring Wood Storks, done at the Everglades during breeding season. CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO ACTIVATE THE CAROUSEL.
At a breeding colony, Wood Storks crowd the trees with large nests made of sticks. An adult (top left) greets its mate with bill-clappering and guttural noises. Week-old downy young (top center) wait to be fed while a subadult stork preens nearby. After five weeks (top right) young storks become restless and may stand up in their nests, sometimes watchful of fledging birds (bottom center) trying their wings.
Breeding Wood Storks require a fairly low and decreasing water level to concentrate needed food resources for successful feeding of their young. Too much or too little water can cause abandonment of the breeding colony. Below, storks compete at a feeding hole near Pa-hay-okee during the dry season. Dominant adults strut with erect feathers to protect territory.
The most easily observable breeding colony in the Everglades is at Paurotis Pond during the winter and spring. There, the storks nest typically on clumps of Red Mangroves where hundreds may be seen nesting nearby Roseate Spoonbills, Great Egrets, Anhingas, and others.
Infamous for being the site of one of the most brutal bird massacres during the plume hunting era, Cuthbert Lake still holds a Wood Stork colony. I did this sketch from a skiff while surveying the area with Audubon colleagues.
Wood Storks reach maturity after their third year, by which point they lose all the feathers on their heads and necks, which become bare, covered with scales. The bills and heads of adults are dark (right). Subadult birds show dark heads with irregular feathering and bare areas (center). First-year birds have feathered heads stained brown and yellowish bills (left).
Quick thumbnail sketches of Wood Storks exhibiting aggressive behavior while defending their place at a feeding hole.
Quick thumbnail sketches of Wood Storks taking off and returning to their rookeries, done at Paurotis Pond.
An ink illustration, derived from watercolors done at Paurotis Pond, Everglades – used for an educational activity included in the Tropical Audubon Publication.
During breeding season, adults develop a light golden wash on their underwing coverts, noticeable when in flight.
Detail of “Wood Storks at Paurotis Pond.” This watercolor is being done on site, while observing the birds through Leica APO-Televid 65 and 77 scopes.
“Everglades Sketchbook 8″ is a 9″x12″ ring-bound watercolor pad I purchased in 2005 with the aim of doing quick, in-the-moment landscapes. I have used it on and off for nearly 10 years now, and a few of its pages are still blank.
Sketch done from the edge of an unnamed cypress dome south of Pa-hay-okee. January 12, 2007.
Sketched during an afternoon outing, winter of 2007, from the outskirts of the Dwarf Cypress Forest.
An open spread showing two moments in time at one of the small lakes west of Long Pine Key. Done during the afternoon of December 30, 2005.
Done at the southern edge of Big Cypress National Preserve, where Slash Pines give way to scattered Sawgrass Prairies, and larger Cabbage Palms are about. Fall of 2008.
A sketch done at the Hole-In-The-Donut restoration area, from the berm south of Gate 15 overlooking Taylor Slough to the east on October 15, 2006.
This sketch was done in Big Cypress National Preserve, about 3 miles north of Oasis, from within a cypress dome on February 2, 2007.
An evening sketch from January 5, 2007, done from the road leading to the Pa-hay-okee Overlook. The hyphened word is a native American term given to the Everglades, meaning “Grassy Water.”
A watercolor sketch done from the southwestern edge of Pine Glades Lake, west of Long Pine Key during late afternoon, November 22, 2006.
While driving towards Royal Palm during the afternoon of March 18, 2006, I noticed a fire to the north, beyond Taylor Slough. I pulled over and did this sketch from the roadside.
“Everglades Sketchbook 8” is a 9″x12″ ring-bound watercolor pad I purchased in 2005 with the aim of doing quick, in-the-moment landscapes. I have used it on and off for nearly 10 years now, and a few of its pages are still blank.
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