Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge

On a recent trip to Sanabel's wildlife jewel, Beth, Bill and I had the rare opportunity to photograph some endangered Wood Storks up close and personal. They were at the shoreline just feet away from the road.

Son John, who is here for the holidays, says this looks like a drag queen of the animal kingdom.

Look at the way their legs bend to sit. These majestic birds are beautiful in flight, but up close they sure do have ugly heads!

Three Wood Storks posing for the people who stopped to take pictures.

We also saw other large shore birds: a Snowy Egret,

a Great Egret,

and a Yellow-crowned Night Heron standing just off the road. He never moved while we took lots of pictures.


The Double-crested Cormorants are very common and I usually don't bother taking too many pictures, but I thought this one was especially cute.