Wood Storks on the move!

Our only regular stork in the U.S., the Wood Stork is a pretty impressive bird. With its 5.5 ft black and white wingspan and large heavy white body, the wood stork can be a difficult bird to miss as it flushes from a nearby water tank or while soaring overhead. If you get to see this bird perched or foraging, several things will become quite evident including its large, heavy bill, unfeathered gray head and neck, and long legs. Young birds have a yellow bill compared to the gray bill of adults. Prey which is typically fish, frogs, and turtles is located by touch through its bill as it moves it head back and forth through the water.

Wood Storks formerly nested throughout the southeastern United States, but experienced significant population declines during the mid-twentieth century. These declines were associated with loss of nesting habitat, principally wooded wetlands. In the late 1800's the U.S. population was thought be at least 150,000 nesting pairs, in the 1930's it was down to no more than 20,000 pairs and then hit its lowest level with 5,000 pairs in the mid-1990's. In the late twentieth century, the entire U.S. population was limited to Florida.

Fortunately, recent nesting surveys have indicated a gradual increase in nesting pairs and additional nesting colonies in South Carolina and Georgia. Estimated U.S. population in 2006 was 11,225 nesting pairs. Wood Storks also nest in Mexico and Central America. It is believed that most of the Wood Storks we see in South Texas have moved north from breeding grounds in eastern Mexico.

Please report any sightings of Wood Storks to the South Texas Wintering Birds website.