Wood Stork
Mycteria americana
The wood stork is a 'tactile feeder,' snapping its beak shut in just 25 milliseconds—one of the fastest reflex actions in the vertebrate world.
- Scientific name
- Mycteria americana
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Ciconiiformes › Ciconiidae › Mycteria
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- increasing
- Biome
- wetland
- Habitat
- Freshwater and brackish wetlands, cypress swamps, marshes, and mangroves.
- Diet
- Carnivorous; primarily eats small fish, crustaceans, insects, and amphibians.
- Range
- Southeastern USA, Mexico, Central America, South America
- Size
- Height: 85-115 cm; Wingspan: 150-175 cm.
- Lifespan
- 11-18 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat loss due to land development, altered water flow in the Everglades, and mercury contamination.
- Safe to approach?
- Wood storks are harmless and generally shy. Maintain a distance of at least 50 feet to avoid disrupting their foraging or nesting behavior. They are not aggressive, but their large size means they should be given space to take flight. If you find an injured stork, contact local wildlife rehabilitators rather than handling it yourself, as the beak can deliver a sharp pinch.
The wood stork ( Mycteria americana ) is a large American wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It was formerly called the " wood ibis ", though it is not an ibis. It is found in subtropical and tropical habitats in the Americas, including the Caribbean. In South America, it is resident, but in North America, it disperses to as far as South America. It was originally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. It likely evolved in tropical regions....
Photo: no rights reserved, CC0, via iNaturalist
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