Peeking into the woodstorks’ maternity ward | savannahnow.com

Dot Bambach and Mary Ellen Urbansky keep regular tabs on the biggest wood stork maternity ward north of Florida, making a 60-foot vertical climb to do so.

“It’s not a race,” warns Bambach before she grabs the first rung of the observation tower at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge.

No worry, gravity enforces the rule.

Bambach, a retired banker and top-notch birder who lives at The Landings, and Urbansky, a biotechnician intern from Rincon, go slowly and wear gloves to protect their hands from the inevitable vulture guano that clings to the caged ladder.

From the viewing platform, the cypress trees below look like bird hotels. Wood storks, with their 6-foot wingspans, need the penthouse to maneuver into place.

via Peeking into the woodstorks’ maternity ward | savannahnow.com.