Ornithology: Portrait of a Predator

The more he watched the clumsy, black-and-white wood stork as it fished in the muddy Florida swamp, the more vacationing Zoologist Marvin Philip Kahl Jr. was puzzled. As the big bird slogged awkwardly through the murky, weed-choked water, its long, curved beak dangling half open, it was hardly the picture of a successful predator. Yet it was snagging a fish every couple of seconds. How was it spotting its prey?

Determined to find the answer, Kahl captured a pair of the birds, brought them back to the University of Georgia campus, and studied the problem with the help of Professor L....