Category: Birds
The Wood Stork is the only stork species that breeds in the United States. They inhabit the swamps of the southeastern U.S. and their size, bald head, and white plumage makes them a stand-out character. They nest in colonies and there can be as many as 25 of their large, stick nests in one forest tree!
Asleep at the wheel?
Can you imagine spending nearly all of your life in the air? The common swift doesn’t have to - it just does! From the day this bird learns to fly, it almost never touches the ground voluntarily - it eats, drinks, mates, and may even sleep while flying. While sleep walking can be problematic in humans, many birds have the ability to enter a state called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep, where one half of the brain sleeps as the other remains alert. This method of “sleeping with one eye open,” is a great way to avoid becoming another animal’s meal, and has led to the suspicion that these birds, who almost never willingly land, also sleep while in flight!
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