Birds on Sticks

The various series of animal life displayed in the National Geographic Magazine are always unique, interesting, and beautiful. The Large Wading Birds: Long Legs and Remarkable Beaks, as Well as Size, Form and Color Distinguish the Herons, Ibises, and Flamingos, T. Gilbert Pearson, October 1932, are explored in this article.  "As these birds collect virtually all their food from shallow water, their long legs, bare of feathers to a point near the body, making wading easy," (p. 441).  These type of birds appear nearly everywhere but are especially found in tropical and temperate zones.  This article deals with the species in North America, including Mexico and Canada.

Ibises and Spoonbills

The large or medium-sized birds resemble storks.  The difference is to be found in the tips of the beaks.  While storks have a straight tip, ibises have the long bill curved.  As the name describes, spoonbills' beak tips are "greatly broadened and flattened at the tip,"  (p. 444).  There are white, purple-green and scarlet ibises.  It takes the scarlet ibis two to three seasons of molting to appear totally, brilliant scarlet.

In the author's quest to find Wood Ibises, he journeyed to the mossy-covered trees in a Florida swamp.  He was very determined, apparently, and knew that poisonous snakes also inhabited the area.  For his protection, he carried a club.  "In wading across one strip of the swamp, 200 yards wide, I felt obliged to kill 14 of them, one with a length of more than five feet," (p. 445).  He found the crows were carrying off many of the wood ibis eggs.

Flamingos

These birds also resemble the storks.  "The form of the bill, which is abruptly bent downward at the middle, is found in no other bird," (p. 444). Although copies and models of the beautiful Flamingos are found everywhere, especially on suburban lawns in the United States, the actual birds are found in small colonies in Florida and in other tropical areas in Central America.

Blue Herons

At four feet tall, this bird is the tallest of these water birds.  Blue Herons not only feed on fish, they eat water snakes.  "Some have a six foot wing spread and weigh from 6 to 8 pounds," (p. 458).  I have witnessed dozens of Blue Herons in the Lake at Jacobsen Park in Lexington, Kentucky.  My photos have not turned out well.  It is exciting to see them glide in for a landing in the lake.

Egrets

The reddish and snowy white egrets are smaller than the other long-legged birds but equally important as there are great numbers of them in the southern United States.

A beautiful white Egret in the marsh, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, February, 2014.

A Sandpiper, a smaller long-legged bird, on the beach at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, February, 2014.

Sandhill Cranes, another long-legged bird, in Port St. Lucie, Florida, February, 2014.

The nest of these large birds may be built tall in trees, in bushes, or directly on the top of muddy flats.  In the 19th and early 20th centuries, they were hunted for their feathers or for food in great numbers.  They would have quickly gone extinct if it were not for the efforts of naturalists such as John James Audubon, who persuaded legislatures to enact protective laws. There were lovely color paintings in this 1932 National Geographic Magazine article which certainly added to my enjoyment.