Driver pulls over after incredible 'surprise' in Aussie suburb: 'Left me awestruck'
Danny Lloyd spotted the 'majestic' Black-necked Stork and luckily had his camera on hand to capture 'nature's brilliance'.
An Australian photographer has shared a "breathtaking surprise" he made on a recent road trip, forcing him to pull over after a large winged animal swooped over the top of his car.
Danny Lloyd was driving through Ripley in Ipswich, Queensland, earlier this month when the delightful encounter unfolded.
"Thankfully I wasn't speeding," he told Yahoo News Australia, saying he was only travelling at about 40km/h when he noticed the large bird.
"So I could safely pull over for a closer look. To my astonishment, it was a Black-necked Stork, its elegant, massive wings spanning wide as it glided over the road."
Like any good shutterbug, he had his camera with a 200-600mm lens at hand to try and capture the glorious bird.
"I focused and snapped a few shots of its glossy neck standing out vividly," he told Yahoo.
A photo taken at the time shows the stork strolling on its long legs, displaying an exquisite green neck and striking yellow eye – the latter indicating the stork is a female. Meanwhile another shows it gliding into the distance.
"With each frame, I felt as if I’d captured a small piece of Ripley's wild beauty, a spontaneous encounter that left me awestruck by nature’s brilliance," Danny said.
The Black-necked stork is easily identified from all other Aussie birds due to its unique appearance. It inhabits wetlands across northern and northeast Australia and the bird will occasionally stray into open grass, woodland areas or flooded paddocks in search of food, according to the Australian Museum.
Danny's photography is focused mainly on the Australian landscape and bird life. Sharing the images online, many other nature lovers relished the scene, describing the bird as "magnificent", "majestic" and "beautiful".
"How lucky were you," one person commented.
"Especially love the capture of her flying," another said.
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As one follower pointed out, the bird is a common sight on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula where locals reportedly refer to it as the Policeman bird. "Perhaps why it appears on the shoulder patch of the Kowanyama Community Police uniforms," they noted.
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