{"id":2880,"date":"2011-08-10T06:00:23","date_gmt":"2011-08-10T12:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=2880"},"modified":"2025-03-28T11:10:13","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T16:10:13","slug":"wood-storks-diffuse-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/08\/10\/wood-storks-diffuse-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Wood Storks &#8211; Diffuse light"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-142134 size-full\" title=\"Hunting Wood Stork, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3688.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3688.jpg\" alt=\"Hunting Wood Stork, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" data-id=\"12462\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3688-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3688-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3688-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3688-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3688-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3688-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3688-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3688.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Hunting Wood Stork &#8211; Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 320, Nikkor 80-400mm at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>These two images were taken after the &#8220;Golden Hour&#8221;, though as I recall there wasn&#8217;t much golden light that morning. There were high thin clouds and that worked in my favor to photograph these large white birds without blowing out the whites. White feathers in bright light can be challenging to expose properly but the clouds on this day caused a diffusion of the light.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-142135 size-full\" title=\"Still Wood Stork, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3755.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3755.jpg\" alt=\"Still Wood Stork, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" data-id=\"12463\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3755-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3755-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3755-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3755-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3755-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3755-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3755-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3755.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Still <\/span><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Wood Stork (Mycetaria americana) resting<span style=\"color: #333333;\"> &#8211;\u00a0<\/span>Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 320, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 270mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I was either laying in the very shallow water of this lagoon or sitting down in it as low as possible to get a low angle. These are big wading birds though so I didn&#8217;t need to go as low as I would for a small shorebird like a Sanderling.<\/p>\n<p>Wood Storks are the only native stork in North America and I think they are very prehistoric looking. I know quite a few people will pass up taking images of Wood Storks for more colorful and &#8220;beautiful&#8221; birds. Not me.<\/p>\n<p>The diffuse light that day worked in my favor with these fascinating birds.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wood-stork-images\/\">here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Wood Stork photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There were high thin clouds and that worked in my favor to photograph these large white birds without blowing out the whites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25,353],"tags":[4004,970,4021,4083,14752,952,4620,3970,950,519,953,7469,5410,951,4140,4236,955,102,4441],"class_list":["post-2880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-wood-storks","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-bird-photography","tag-birding","tag-coastal-island","tag-diffuse-light","tag-fall","tag-hunting","tag-mycteria-americana","tag-nature","tag-standing","tag-still","tag-stork","tag-storks","tag-tidal-lagoon","tag-walking","tag-white-exposure","tag-wildlife","tag-wood-stork"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3688.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-Ks","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49514,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/11\/21\/wood-stork-foraging-in-a-gulf-coast-lagoon\/","url_meta":{"origin":2880,"position":0},"title":"Wood Stork Foraging in a Gulf Coast Lagoon","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"As the Wood Stork foraged for it breakfast it kept an eye on me as I sat low and very still in the lagoon.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wood Stork in a dark lagoon, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wood-stork-feeding-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-3837.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wood-stork-feeding-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-3837.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wood-stork-feeding-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-3837.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wood-stork-feeding-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-3837.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1476,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/11\/26\/wood-stork-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":2880,"position":1},"title":"Wood Stork Portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 26, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It is my opinion that Wood Storks do not get nearly the same exposure as other big white wading birds.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wood Stork portrait, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-portrait-florida-5379.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-portrait-florida-5379.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-portrait-florida-5379.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":41785,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/09\/05\/wood-stork-in-flight-over-fort-de-soto\/","url_meta":{"origin":2880,"position":2},"title":"Wood Stork in Flight over Fort De Soto","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When I lived in Florida there were times that I would see Wood Storks at Fort De Soto and once in a while I would get lucky and find them in flight.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Wood Stork in flight, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/wood-stork-flight-adult-mia-mcpherson-3680.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/wood-stork-flight-adult-mia-mcpherson-3680.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/wood-stork-flight-adult-mia-mcpherson-3680.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/wood-stork-flight-adult-mia-mcpherson-3680.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7527,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/15\/roseate-spoonbill-and-wood-stork-size-comparison\/","url_meta":{"origin":2880,"position":3},"title":"Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork Size Comparison","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This photo shows a Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork on the shoreline of a tidal lagoon at Fort De Soto County Park in Florida and it shows how the Wood Stork can dwarf the Roseate Spoonbill in height.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wood Stork walking near a lagoon, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-walking-mia-mcpherson-8623.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-walking-mia-mcpherson-8623.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-walking-mia-mcpherson-8623.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-walking-mia-mcpherson-8623.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5858,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/08\/06\/landing-wood-stork\/","url_meta":{"origin":2880,"position":4},"title":"Landing Wood Stork","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Wood Storks (Mycetaria americana) are the largest wading bird in North America and the only stork that breeds in the U.S.. Wood Storks are considered endangered primarily due to loss of habitat.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Landing Wood Stork, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-landing-mia-mcpherson-5223.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-landing-mia-mcpherson-5223.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-landing-mia-mcpherson-5223.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-landing-mia-mcpherson-5223.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15764,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/09\/04\/a-morning-spent-at-fort-de-soto-six-years-ago-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":2880,"position":5},"title":"A Morning Spent At Fort De Soto Six Years Ago Today","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Six years ago this morning I was photographing birds at Fort De Soto County Park and I wanted to share a few images and memories of that day.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Oystercatchers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Oystercatchers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-oystercatchers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile American Oystercatcher in stormy light on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/american-oystercatcher-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/american-oystercatcher-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/american-oystercatcher-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/american-oystercatcher-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}