Extraordinary birds, what a great new title for the #SMAP contest. For me, seeing one of these in person for the first time was extraordinary.
This is a Wood Stork. Not only are they native to Florida, but this is one of their preferred nesting areas. These large birds get 33-45 inches tall (85-115 cm) and can weigh 72-93 oz (2050-2640 g), their wingspan can be 59-68 inches (150-175 cm). Now that's a lot of bird in the air!
I took the first set of these pics above in a nearby Rookery. Apparently they like to nest in tall trees. I was just amazed to see this giant bird at the top of a large tree, bending over the branches it landed on.
Imagine my surprise when a whole flock of them started showing up periodically next to one of the nearby golf course ponds. (These taken from the car using my Pixel Fold Phone).
This one zoomed a bit on the phone.
The above and below all the same group, just too wide to catch them all in the phone frame size. I counted a little over 40 of them. Holy cow!
Initial set taken with Sony A7RIV and 200-600mm zoom lens.
Group shots taken with Pixel Fold phone.
Enjoy!