{"id":5858,"date":"2012-08-06T03:55:34","date_gmt":"2012-08-06T09:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=5858"},"modified":"2025-09-21T05:22:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T10:22:11","slug":"landing-wood-stork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/08\/06\/landing-wood-stork\/","title":{"rendered":"Landing Wood Stork"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LandingLanding Wood Stork – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/750, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Wood Storks 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.<\/p>\n

These large wading birds can live up to 25 years.<\/p>\n

Their diet consists of aquatic prey which includes fish, crabs and insects, they swish their bills in the water to locate prey as well as using their feet to stir up the water.<\/p>\n

Wood Storks have been known to fly at altitudes of 6000 feet and will fly as far as 50 miles to eat.<\/p>\n

This sub-adult Wood Stork<\/span><\/a> was photographed at Fort De Soto’s north beach as the bird came in for a landing in a tidal lagoon edged by mangroves.<\/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":"

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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":157206,"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":[27,25,704,353],"tags":[4021,14752,4052,4122,173,4123,4258,950,4188,5410,951,2239,4140,4441],"class_list":["post-5858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-wood-storks","tag-bird-photography","tag-coastal-island","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-gulf-coast","tag-landing","tag-mangroves","tag-mycteria-americana","tag-shoreline","tag-stork","tag-storks","tag-sub-adult","tag-tidal-lagoon","tag-wood-stork"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-landing-mia-mcpherson-5223.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1wu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1476,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/11\/26\/wood-stork-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":5858,"position":0},"title":"Wood Stork Portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 26, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It is my opinion that Wood Storks do not get nearly the same exposure as other big white wading birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wood Stork portrait, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-portrait-florida-5379.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-mia-mcpherson-portrait-florida-5379.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-portrait-florida-5379.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":41785,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/09\/05\/wood-stork-in-flight-over-fort-de-soto\/","url_meta":{"origin":5858,"position":1},"title":"Wood Stork in Flight over Fort De Soto","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Wood Stork in flight, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, 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clouds and that worked in my favor to photograph these large white birds without blowing out the whites.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hunting Wood Stork, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3688.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3688.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3688.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wood-stork-mia-mcpherson-3688.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wood-stork-feeding-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-3837.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wood-stork-feeding-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-3837.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wood-stork-feeding-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-3837.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wood-stork-feeding-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-3837.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7527,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/15\/roseate-spoonbill-and-wood-stork-size-comparison\/","url_meta":{"origin":5858,"position":4},"title":"Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork Size Comparison","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This photo shows a Roseate 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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