Wood Stork

Wood Storks (seen in the foreground with the Snowy Egret in the rear) are one of two Storks that visit North America. We are fortunate in Fort Bend to see these birds in late summer and fall. Mature birds have browner and "woodier looking" bills with no feathers on their heads and necks, while immature and juveniles have more golden bills and feathered heads. They stand 40" tall.

Wood Storks are loosely called "migrants" along the Gulf Coast, but it might be more correct to say they are roaming for food along waterways and inland marshes and swamps after breeding along the coasts of Mexico and peninsula of Florida. It is common to see them on Oyster Creek, at Brazos Bend State Park and other waterways in Fort Bend and coastal counties. Originally from South America, the populate the northern half of that Continent.

This mature Wood Stork's brown bill, lack of feathers on the head and neck, contrasts with the juvenile in the picture above with its feathered neck and head as well as lighter bill.

Our  photographer Margaret Sloan heard of a flock flying over Sienna and then captured this photo of a juvenile that had stopped at the pond near the spillway on #17 El Dorado on the Quail Valley Golf Course.

Taking flight, Wood Storks are ever looking for a new source of food. When the "mud bug" or crawfish farmers lower their ponds in Jefferson County Texas, they are quite popular with the Wood Storks.

Also known as Wood Ibis, they are most often found in multi-species flocks feeding in marshes. See how many species you can identify in this photo. Click to enlarge the photo.

Editor and writer of this blog, Janice Scanlan frequently sees Wood Storks on the Oyster Creek Trail between Mosley and Lost Creek Parks as well as on the Quail Valley Golf course near ponds. Some have been spotted on Oak Leaf Court in Quail Valley near a home that has a large free form salt water pool with a natural stone bottom. A heavily wooded area, it is just north of Oyster Creek--one of nature's highways. While the other stork seen in North America, the Jabiru, might be seen in Fort Bend, it would be a rare event. The Wood Stork is dependably seen late summer and fall.

How many birds did you identify? I see Roseate Spoonbill, Immature White Ibis (hint they are more brown when they are young), Great Egret, Snowy Egret. Do you see more????

Get prepared for hummingbirds! Don't forget hummingbirds will arrive late July. Get your feeders ready. House Finches have been using one of my platform hummingbird feeders all summer for water so don't be surprised if in our dry weather, you have other visitors. Get a recipe for your hummingbird feeder.

Photos copyrighted by Quail Valley resident and international birder Margaret Sloan. View her international and national bird pictures by pressing this link.

See a bird you don't recognize in Fort Bend? Margaret has photographed 150+ bird species just in her suburban backyard alone. Narrow your initial search by viewing her full photo album of local birds, Birds of Quail Valley by pressing this link. They are organized by types of birds, so if it's a water bird for example, you may find one that helps you narrow your search. Then if you "google in" the name of the bird, you'll get info and all kinds of information and images. Sometimes if a species is remarkably different from adult you may find nothing, contact us and we'll do our best to help.

Researched and posted by Janice Scanlan. Click photos to enlarge them.