Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/127088
Sarasota News Leader May 3, 2013 One of the first things that leap out at you when you sight a Wood Stork (other than the fact you have not the foggiest idea what it is) is its grayish, dark-brown bald head. Why the bald head? For a long time, the Wood Stork was called a "Wood Ibis." John J. Audubon also subtitled it so. And the two types of birds do share common features — the black-tipped white feathers, long bill and the bald head. However, recent DNA testing has shown that the Wood Stork is most closely related to the vulture. Vultures require bald heads so that after thrusting them deep into an animal carcass, the tiny bits of decaying flesh do not stick to head feathers and contaminate the bird with bacterial diseases. The Wood Stork does not eat carrion. Its diet consists primarily of minnows, which he catches in a totally Page 86 unusual way, by "tactile location." He wades into shallow waters, opens his bill and sticks it into the water. When he feels the fish touching it, he snaps his bill shut "in as little as 25 milliseconds — an incredibly quick reaction time matched by few other vertebrates." This quotation is from National Geographic. It is an awesome factoid, but I am not too impressed, as I have seen females of the human species chomp on a chocolate bonbon in less time. "Ironhead," as the Wood Stork is often called, does not need that bare skin protection from disease, as it does not consume carrion. Neither does our native American Turkey. In the case of the Turkey, the brightly colored and patriotic red, white and blue skin patches on a male during breeding season are ornamental and terribly sexy to the female of the species. The Wood Stork's black-tipped white feathers are distinctive. File photo