Of all the birds I saw on a recent trip to the Huntington Beach State Park, the Wood Stork was my favorite.

It was thrilling to watch these large birds catching their prey. With so much action 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.

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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.

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the mighty mirrorless monster of a camera, the @canonusa
#R5