Mycteria americana
wood stork

Mycteria americana range from North America to Argentina. In the United States, wood storks nest in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. After breeding they may disperse north to North Carolina or west to Mississippi and Alabama. (Brooks, 2001)

Wood storks inhabit mainly tidal waters, marshes, swamps, streams and mangroves. They hunt for prey in shallow, muddy-bottomed banks or wetlands. Their nests are ideally constructed in trees surrounded by water to limit depredation of the eggs. (Brooks, 2001; Ehrlich, Dobkin, and Wheye, 1988)

Adults usually measure one meter tall and can have a wingspan of over one and a half meters. They have a blackish bill, accompanied with a scaly-looking, featherless head and neck which sticks out straight when flying. The majority of the birds' body is white except for the primary, secondary, and tail feathers which are black. Immature wood storks have a pale yellow bill and dull gray-colored head and neck. (Farrand, 1983)

We do not have information on lifespan/longevity for this species at this time.

Like their close relatives, vultures of the family Cathartidae (Mindell et al., 1998), storks are soaring birds that will ride thermals to altitudes of up to 300 meters or more to get to feeding grounds up to 130 kilometers away (Klinkenberg, 1998). They are known to be incredible acrobats when descending, performing marvelous turns, dives, and rolls. They are highly gregarious birds occurring in small to very large flocks and they build their nests in large colonies with other storks.

The formation of flocks is thought to be triggered when the birds smell exposed mud at low tides. These areas are often favorable feeding grounds. Like other migrating birds, wood storks may locate their nesting grounds by recognizing geographical landmarks and sensing magnetic fields (Wolkomir and Wolkomir, 2001). (Klinkenberg, 1998; Mindell, Sorenson, and Dimcheff, 1998; Wolkomir and Wolkomir, 2001)

Home Range

We do not have information on home range for this species at this time.

Like other migrating birds, wood storks may locate their nesting grounds by recognizing geographical landmarks and sensing magnetic fields. (Wolkomir and Wolkomir, 2001)

Adult wood storks eat small fish, frogs, mollusks, snails, insects, and aquatic invertebrates. It has been calculated that a 2.5 kilogram bird would eat more than half a kilogram of fish daily. Wood storks wade through shallow water feeling for movement and snap their bill shut when they touch a fish. Vision is not as important as touch, and the bill-snapping reflex of the stork is one of the fastest reflexes known in vertebrates, taking only about 25 thousandths of a second (Wolkomir and Wolkomir, 2001). It was also recently discovered that wood storks often leave the roost at night to catch prey or fish during nocturnal low tides. This allows them to feed without the competition of other large shorebirds such as great egrets. (Bryan et al., 2001b; Wolkomir and Wolkomir, 2001)

The greatest threat to wood storks are raccoons (Procyon lotor) that climb to the nests to eat the chicks. Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) may also pose a problem to unwary birds. (Klinkenberg, 1998)

Wood storks and other wading birds are an integral part of the marshland food chain along with other reptilian and mammalian predators. (Klinkenberg, 1998)

There are no known adverse affects of wood storks on humans.

We do not have information on economic importance for this species at this time.

In the 1930's an estimated 20,000 wood stork pairs were nesting in the United States. In 1978 only 2,500 pairs were recorded and wood storks were placed on the Endangered Species List in 1984. A recent survey of nesting pairs counted 5,500 pairs (Klinkenberg, 1998). If the species grows to 6,000 nesting pairs it may be reclassified to "threatened" instead of "endangered". The best way to help the species is to preserve wetlands, limit water management, and reduce heavy metal pollution such as mercury which can be lethal to the storks (Bryan et al., 2001a).

Historically the largest American population of wood storks has been in Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve and the Everglades, but because of a decline in wetland habitat and water management, colonies seem to be migrating northward (Brooks, 2001).

Wood storks are listed as endangered on the US Federal List and are protected under the US MBTA. (Brooks, 2001; Bryan et al., 2001a; Klinkenberg, 1998)

Wood storks are the only nesting storks in the United States and our largest wading bird. They are also endearingly called "flinthead" or "ironhead" by some.

Traditionally in Austrian and German folklore, storks were said to deliver babies. These stories have now been passed on to the Americas. Wood storks are exceptionally serene animals that can live harmoniously alongside humans if left undisturbed. (Wolkomir and Wolkomir, 2001)