lirralirra

These magnificent birds have extraordinary eyes.

I’ve seen Black-necked Storks in the Northern Territory and in Queensland but photographed this one last week at Healesville Sanctuary, Victoria. They are remarkable looking birds. Until fairly recently they were called Jabiru which is a beaut-sounding name but totally inappropriate as it relates to a stork from the Americas, despite sounding as though it could be an Indigenous Australian word. I do think it’s strange that they chose Black-necked Stork as its replacement name as its neck is beautifully irridescent while the American stork has a featherless black neck.

I’ve written a few posts about birds’ nictitating eyelids, and shared many images, but I’ve never seen one quite like this. Birds’ membranous eyelids move sideways to moisten the eye while maintaining vision.

Female Black-necked Storks have a yellow iris, they are slightly shorter than the brown-eyed males.

I’m hoping this heavy crop, above, will show how root-like the vessels of the nictitating eyelid appear – isn’t it awesome!

This post will be published much later than I’d planned as I keep thinking of extra images I’d like to share with you, including the shot above which shows the membrane as it is moving across the eye.

Birds often close their lower lids while sleeping and this magnificent bird was very relaxed and sleepy, especially when the sun was shining. It looks strange to see the lower lid closing and the nictitating eyelid in the same shot, surrounded by a sea of tiny feathers.

Happy birding, Kim

~ Facebook page Kim Wormald – lirralirra
~ Facebook group  Ethical Bird Photography