Excellent flyers, Wood Storks use air currents to soar thousands of feet up and glide for miles. They fly with legs and head extended.

Their heads are featherless for a very good reason...the way they feed. Wood Storks feed in shallow ponds, marshes and ditches and rely on touch to catch their food. It will walk slowly through the shallow, murkey water with its bill held open under the surface. When a fish, crawdad or frog touches the bill a reflex causes it to snap shut to trap the food.

Wood Storks nest in the tops of cypress trees - preferably on islands or over water to provide protection against predators like racoons. Wetlands are continually being lost, depriving the Wood Stork of it's feeding and nesting areas. The federal government listed the species as endangered in 1984.

A Wood Stork family will need nearly 500 pounds of fish to raise their young during breeding season, so they breed when the wetlands are in the best cycle to provide enough food.

This Wood Stork was hanging out with a flock of white Egrets at the end of Sweetwater canal.