Wood Stork

Mycteria americana

OrderCiconiiformes

FamilyCiconiidae

HabitatShallow wetlands, flooded fields, and roadside ditches

SeasonPost-breeding visitor to Texas in summer and fall (June-October)

LocationFM 1847, Los Fresnos, Texas, Cameron County, Texas

Size33-45 inches, wingspan 60-65 inches

DietFish, crayfish, and frogs caught by touch

ConservationLeast Concern (IUCN); U.S. breeding popu

CameraNikon Z9Lens800mmAperturef/8Shutter1/800ISO1000

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Wood Storks at Los Fresnos.

About the Wood Stork

The Wood Stork is the only stork that breeds in the United States. It is a big white wading bird with black flight feathers and a bare, scaly gray head and neck that has earned it the nickname flinthead.

It feeds by touch instead of sight. A stork wades with its thick bill open in the water, and when a fish brushes against it the bill snaps shut in a fraction of a second, one of the fastest reflexes known in vertebrates.

Wood Storks nest in Florida and the Southeast, then many wander west to Texas after the breeding season. These photographs were made along FM 1847 near Los Fresnos in Cameron County on September 23, 2025.

Want to see a Wood Stork in the wild?
Join one of my guided birding tours! Fine art prints of my photos are also available.

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