The African openbill stork makes its home in Africa and parts of Madagascar. This bird certainly would never win a beauty contest. One reason would be because of its big brown beak. It looks rather strange in that the upper and lower sections do not come together except at the very tip, leaving an open space. This is how it got the name “openbill.” Another reason would be because its black and iridescent green feathers, contrasting with brown and white ones, often look like they need straightening out. Its long, stilt-like legs, with three big toes spread wide, don’t help its appearance either.
This stork’s most important food is a large underwater snail that clings to stems of underwater plants. When it finds a snail, it grasps it with its strong bill and then is somehow able to extract it from its shell. Then, flipping the shell away, the stork enjoys this bite of food. Strangely, the snail’s pretty shell is not damaged in the process and makes a good collector’s item for anyone finding it.
The wood stork is another stork, mostly white, with a black tail and black feathers on the underside of its wings. It has a black head and neck mottled with brown and a beak that is similarly colored. Its three-toed feet are pink. Home for this stork is in the southeastern part of the United States, mostly in Florida.
The wood stork feeds in shallow water on both freshwater and saltwater fish, and it is very good at fishing. It wades with its beak under the water, feeling for fish with its sensitive beak under the murky water. When its beak feels an underwater creature, it reacts by snapping closed on it with a reaction faster than any other animal, reptile, bird or fish is known to have. To feed their young, the parent eats the fish, snail or other food first. After digesting it, the parent brings the food back up into its open beak. The babies reach in from the sides, each trying to get the biggest bite, hoping there will be more as well.
In the hot afternoons, these storks often take to the sky, soaring upward on thermals. Perhaps this helps to cool them down. The parent birds also splash their babies or their eggs with water that they have carried in their beaks to their nests.
Isn’t it wonderful to think of the Lord God, the Creator of all things, taking pleasure in placing so many varieties of creatures throughout the world? It’s nice, too, to think of how He cares for them, giving them their food, as our opening Bible verse says. He does the same for you and me. Do you thank Him for His care and the food and other things He provides for you? There is an encouraging verse, the very last verse in the Psalms, that says, “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord” (Psalm 150:66Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalm 150:6)). If you are breathing, that means you are alive, and there is always much to thank the Lord for!
Did You Know?
African openbills can eat snails without damaging their shells.
Messages of God’s Love 8/20/2023