{"id":41785,"date":"2016-09-05T05:43:03","date_gmt":"2016-09-05T11:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=41785"},"modified":"2025-09-21T05:40:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T10:40:05","slug":"wood-stork-in-flight-over-fort-de-soto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/09\/05\/wood-stork-in-flight-over-fort-de-soto\/","title":{"rendered":"Wood Stork in Flight over Fort De Soto"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Wood Stork in flight – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 320, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Wood Storks are the only storks that breed in in North America and they are our largest wading bird. They remind me of the storks I used to see nesting on top of buildings and chimneys in Germany when I was a little girl but they are two different species.<\/p>\n

When I lived in Florida there were times that I would see Wood Storks at Fort De Soto and once in a while I would get lucky and find them in flight. The day I photographed this Wood Stork several of them circled before they landed in a lagoon right in front of me.<\/p>\n

They might look like big black and white birds but if you catch them in the right light their black feathers can display iridescent reds, golds, greens and blues and in this frame the reds show on the tail feathers and the greens show on the primaries.<\/p>\n

Breeding Wood Storks are found in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina and in some areas of the Caribbean and Mexico.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Wood Stork photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I lived in Florida there were times that I would see Wood Storks at Fort De Soto and once in a while I would get lucky and find them in flight. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25,704,2000,353],"tags":[4004,970,5411,5132,4620,4052,4122,950,4018,5410,951,313,4441],"class_list":["post-41785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-wood-storks","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-circling","tag-coastal","tag-fall","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-mycteria-americana","tag-sky","tag-stork","tag-storks","tag-wading-birds","tag-wood-stork"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/wood-stork-flight-adult-mia-mcpherson-3680.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-aRX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5858,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/08\/06\/landing-wood-stork\/","url_meta":{"origin":41785,"position":0},"title":"Landing Wood Stork","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Wood Storks (Mycetaria americana) are the largest wading bird in North America and the only stork that breeds in the U.S.. Wood Storks are considered endangered primarily due to loss of habitat.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Landing Wood Stork, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-landing-mia-mcpherson-5223.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-landing-mia-mcpherson-5223.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-landing-mia-mcpherson-5223.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-landing-mia-mcpherson-5223.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Spoonbill and Wood Stork on the shoreline of a tidal lagoon at Fort De Soto County Park in Florida and it shows how the Wood Stork can dwarf the Roseate Spoonbill in height.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wood Stork walking near a lagoon, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-walking-mia-mcpherson-8623.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-walking-mia-mcpherson-8623.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-walking-mia-mcpherson-8623.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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McPherson","date":"September 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Six years ago this morning I was photographing birds at Fort De Soto County Park and I wanted to share a few images and memories of that day.","rel":"","context":"In "American Oystercatchers"","block_context":{"text":"American Oystercatchers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-oystercatchers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile American Oystercatcher in stormy light on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/american-oystercatcher-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/american-oystercatcher-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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