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Wood Stork (Mycteria americana)

Gerald and Buff Corsi © California Academy of Sciences

Length: 36-42 in.
Habitat: swamps; marshy meadows, shallow freshwater areas.

This species, formely called the Wood Ibis, is the only stork in North America. Among stork's nicknames are Gourdhead and Flinthead, references to the Bare, dark skin covering the head and the upper neck. Young storks, unlike their parents, are feathered in those ares. Another difference is in voice; although older storks are mostly silent, the young birds produce and unbelievable clamor. Observers heard the grunts, squeals, bleats and bellows coming from a Wood Stork colony which resembled sounds made by Bullfrogs and alligators.