Today is Valentine’s Day and I have been thinking about what to post this evening.

If I was home I would probably dig out some more old Valentine Cards from my Grandma’s Scrapbooks. Below are links to the posts I made last year.

Century Old Valentines

Century Old Valentines II

Century Old Valentines III

However, I decided to share pictures of a pair of storks that I saw last weekend at the Taronga Zoo.

Here we have a pair of Black-necked Storks (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus).

How can you tell which one is the male and which is the female. It looks like one has more white on the bottom, but it is just because of the way the wings are held.

Here is a close-up of the male. It may not be the most handsome bird in the world, but it does look majestic.

I used the picture above in my post Taronga Zoo Birds II. If you go to the post you will out how to tell the male and female apart. I will also let you know below, but you may see the difference in the next picture without a need for an explanation.

Did you see a little difference between the male and the female?

The male and female of this species look identical except for the color of the iris. The male has a brown iris and the female has a yellow iris.

If you look at the two pictures again you will see the difference immediately.

The yellow iris of the female is very striking against the black of her head.

It is very interesting to think that Valentine’s Day is coming to a close here in Australia and is just beginning back home.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Steven

The towers are starting to rise.