Elsy Menko – Nature #5
Birds of Africa – Yellow-billed stork
Surprisingly the safari in Tanzania in 2018 turned out to be the very best birding trip of my life. Touring the Ngorongoro crater we saw many beautiful birds unknown to us until then. The yellow-billed stork is a very impressive bird, it stands around one meter tall. The deep red skin of the face from which the yellow bill protrudes makes for a stunning appearance. The bright pink legs are a sign of the breeding season. This one put on an elaborate show for us ruffling its feathers while it waded in shallow water. An unforgettable sight. I took many photographs, one of which served as my inspiration.
Cotton fabrics, fused, machine stitched
Detail view:
Original photo:
FIFTEEN BY FIFTEEN 
What a beautiful and interesting bird. Your choice of fabrics and colors is great. I love the way you use little pieces of fabric to give texture, contrast and movement. Bravo!
A great bird, you have really captured the ruffled feathers. Great use of fabric for the background, lovely work.
Again, thank you for the educational story. Your bird is well executed. I love almost tri-dimensional ruffled feathers and your choice for background fabric.
I love it how you did the feathers. The colors are so delicate. It’s so nice how you did the background. Lovely!
Thank you to introduce us to this strange bird ! I will echo with the other comments that the ruffled feathers are so effective !
I also like how you did the background.
Love how you composed your bird with the slightly different colours for the feathers. The background is very effective. Stunning piece.
Wow, I am in awe of the time and amount of sewing in this piece, Bravo your bird is very realistic.
What a magnificent bird. You have shown his colours and feathers beautifully. The background too has been very carefully constructed.
I can almost feel the feathers fluttering on this handsome bird. I love the way that you have treated the background too. Beautiful work
First, I want to say how effective your background is, giving life and movement to the bird. The legs are a wonder, so realistic. Great job.
An interesting bird I have never seen before. a great job . You enter into the details, great colors and also the hand stitching ua perfect.
I had never seen this kind of stork. You managed perfectly to transfer your photo into your work. The choice of fabrics for the background is well done. The accuracy of the work on the feathers is impressive. Bravo.
What an interesting creature and powerful textile depiction of it, great job!
You created texture, dimension and movement with all the different bits of fabrics and stitching. Beautiful bird, well done!