Lucky us. We host the only nesting stork species in the United States, the wood stork (Mycteria americana), and this season they are plentiful. These awkward-looking colonial nesters are on the endangered species list because their feeding and nesting habits are too often upset by human impact.
Bigger than ibis, smaller and whiter than sandhill cranes, storks often stand near roadside canals looking judgmental or taking too-big strides along the banks. Sometimes they shuffle along in the water, poking their beaks down and moving them around.
In flight, their necks and legs outstretched, storks soar and circle gracefully with slow, deliberate beats on broad wings. Black feathers under their wings and on their tails frame white cores.
As touch feeders, storks slowly walk through water with their beaks submerged, snapping up fish, crustaceans and small reptiles. As we have diked and drained our wetlands, we have changed normal water flows. Too much water, and prey becomes too dispersed; too little water, and prey begins to disappear.
We have also cut down most of the storks' nesting trees-the huge bald cypress once abundant in Southwest Florida. Storks nest in colonies of 1,000 or more; if there is insufficient food, the whole colony will be abandoned. Today, storks nest only in the few, 500-plus-year-old, 100-plus-foot-high bald cypress remaining at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Scientists are hoping that soon, with recovering numbers, wood storks might return to nesting sites in other protected areas.
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