Still you have to be lucky to come across them.

You have a much better chance of seeing them in Queensland – I’ve spotted them a number of times up there. On one occasion I photographed one drinking at a water hole, although today’s image was taken in a wildlife park in far north Queensland.

I was very lucky to be able to get a shot like this as they usually nest high up in the trees, but in this case I was able to get above the nest looking down. And even more fortunate to have a nest with a small chick and the parents displaying, which went on for some time.

Both the male and female take part in building the nest and incubating the eggs, and both parents feed  the young by regurgitating food onto the the floor of the nest,.

On another occasion I was lucky enough to see a nest where the chicks were more advanced and, in the hot weather, the parents were carrying water to the nest and spraying the chicks.

The black-necked stork is a large bird, 129–150 cm (51–60 inches) tall having a 230-cm (91-inch) wingspan and an average weight of about 4,100 grams.

The plumage patterns are conspicuous with younger birds differing from adults. Adults have a glossy bluish-black iridescent head, neck, secondary flight feathers and tail; a coppery-brown crown; a bright white back and belly; the bill black with a slightly concave upper edge; and bright red legs.

The sexes are identical but the adult female has a yellow iris while the adult male’s is brown. Juveniles younger than six months have a brownish iris; a distinctly smaller and straighter beak; fluffy appearance; brown head, neck, upper back, wings and tail; a white belly; and dark legs.

Juveniles older than six months have a mottled appearance especially on the head and neck where the iridescence is partly developed; dark-brown outer primaries; white inner primaries that forms a shoulder patch when the wings are closed; a heavy beak identical in size to adults but still straighter; and dark to pale-pink legs.

Like most storks, the black-necked stork flies with the neck outstretched, not retracted like a heron.