Wood Stork

Mycteria americana

The wood stork is the largest wading bird and the only nesting stork in the United States. An adult is about 3.5 feet tall with a wingspan of more than 5 feet, and it weighs about 7 pounds. The bills of mature wood storks are black while those of immature birds are yellowish. Plumage is white except for black primary, secondary and tail feathers. The long legs are black with pink feet.

Wood storks usually feed in water 6 to 10 inches deep using a technique called grope-feeding, or tactile feeding. They wander around in the water with their bills partly opened and when a fish touches the bill, it is quickly snapped shut. This response has been recorded as taking only 25 thousandths of a second, one of the fastest reflexes in vertebrates.

Wood storks usually build nests 3 to 4 ft. wide about 60 ft. off the ground in cypress trees. The female lays 2 to 4 eggs that are larger than a tennis ball. The eggs are incubated for 28 to 32 days. Chicks are fed regurgitated food and they fledge at about 2 months. Wood storks begin breeding at about 4 years of age and pairs often mate for life.

Apart from human destruction of their breeding habitats, raccoons are the next greatest threat to wood storks. It is important that there is water underneath the nests which prevents these predators from coming to attack the young. When water is present, alligators also keep away the raccoons.

The wood stork has an unfeathered head and neck that are dark gray and scaly- looking. These distinctive features earn this bird its common names, the flinthead or ironhead.

The wood stork has been listed as an endangered species since February 1984.