General Description: Wood Stork (Mycteria americana) are very large, long legged wading birds with gray heads and necks (bare), and long, heavy, decurved bills. The wings are white with black trailing edges. The tail is short and black. In adults, the bill is dark, while in immature wood storks, the bill is yellowish. Flies with neck and legs extended.

Taxonomy: Ciconiiformes, Ciconiidae.

Favored Habitat: Wet places (e.g., ponds, marshes, river edges, mangroves, and mud flats) where they probe in dark water with their long bill, foraging mainly for small fish.

Where to Find: Don't look for Wood Storks around Las Vegas. Rather, look for them on trips to south Florida (e.g., Ding Darling NWR, the City of Dunedin, Everglades National Park, Miami area). Overseas, look for them in South and Central America, and in the Caribbean.

Comments: Listed as Federally Endangered. In the U.S., wood storks breed locally in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida (formerly west into Texas). Many can be seen in south Florida.