A Patio Stork

We have seen few Wood Storks on our lake this fall, probably a good sign as water conditions appear more ideal for breeding. All have been single birds, hopefully foraging to find food for their incubating partners or nestlings. 

Remarkably, this stork walked right up on our patio and to the  back door. I hope no one has been feeding them as the behavior is unusual. Our neighbor's playful dog ended this magical encounter just as I was getting ready to make a video.

Mary Lou alerted me of the stork's presence along the edge of our backyard lake. I quickly grabbed my new pocket camera (Canon PowerShot SX 700 HS) and carefully stole out on the patio to get this photo:



The stork seemed to ignore my presence and started walking up on the lawn towards me. I backed away to fit the entire bird in the camera's frame:



It then balanced on one foot, characteristically holding onto its knee with the other foot, as if wondering about what to do as I slowly backed into the house.



From inside, I watched through the window as the stork approached on our patio:



I shot this photo through the screen, adding texture to the image:




It moved right up to within less than 3 feet of the glass door:



The stork's bubble-gum pink feet are an adaptation to its style of tactile foraging, the better to startle small fish into its open jaws as it stirs the water:



Again I backed up, this time into the kitchen, to capture the entire scene:



Through the window, a portrait. The reflection from the window glass is captured in its eye:

Suddenly the stork appeared alarmed and quickly leaped up and flew away to the right. Within a second our next door neighbor's Goldendoodle pup streaked across in front of the window, in hot pursuit of the stork, which continued flying directly away over the lake. The dog, still full of energy, returned back towards home (or perhaps saw some ducks she could harass):