By Sally Siko

Of all the species of birds to be found at the Huntington Beach State Park in S.C., few capture the attention of visitors more than the Wood Stork.
In addition to their *ahem* unique appearance, these birds are incredibly interesting to watch hunting for a snack on the mudflats.

While observing this large flock in action, honestly it was tough to choose which bird to photograph at any given time.
With so much going on, I managed to photograph a nice series of pics of one trying to eat a Blue Crab which was pretty cool!The bird would hold the crab in its mouth and shake its head, crunching down on the crabs shell. One by one the crabs legs popped off until only the cephalothorax remained.Then the Stork swallowed the crab whole in one gulp without so much as a pinch of Old Bay seasoning or melted butter to wash it down with lol!

Wood Storks are best found in the eastern counties of the Carolinas from June through September. Our largest species of wader, they prefer to hunt for a meal in swamps, freshwater marshes and in shallow ponds.Wood Storks are very particular about the depth of water that they’ll hunt for a meal in.Preferring no more than a foot of water to rise up their legs, the flock actually waited until low tide before finally coming down from out of the trees to hunt in the rapidly draining marsh below.
Pretty neat, huh?

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my beloved full frame 50MP beast, the mighty @canonusa #5Ds