Big Bird Breeds and Wades Back Big Time

Good news for the wood stork. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to remove the big bird from the federal list of endangered and threatened species. 

Forty years ago the wood stork population was down to fewer than 5000 nesting pairs, most of them in south Florida’s Everglades and Big Cypress ecosystems. Today there are twice that number, and the birds have spread to the coastal plains of Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

“The wood stork is recovering as a result of protecting its habitat at a large scale,” says USFWS’s Shannon Estenoz. “This iconic species has rebounded because dedicated partners in the Southeast have worked tirelessly to restore ecosystems, such as the Everglades, that support it.” 

Wood storks (Mycteria americana) are the only species of stork breeding in the US. They grow to a stately 50 inches tall with 60- to 65-inch wingspans. A healthy ecosystem is required to support these waders, since a nest of two chicks will gobble an estimated 440 pounds of fish (delivered by their parents) in their first two months alive.

Delisting the wood stork won’t affect the protections it now enjoys under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Clean Water Act, and state environmental regs. The USFWS is now required to implement a monitoring plan for a minimum of five years to ensure the population remains stable.

Good things happen when habitats are protected. The restoration efforts in the Everglades and elsewhere in the Southeast have brought at least one species back from the brink of extinction. More like this, please.

Photo credit: Mark Cook / South Florida Water Management District