Wood Storks are a Florida standard wading bird. While they look a bit gangly on land with their long legs and large body, they fly like raptors and watching a flock of wood storks taking off into the sunset is an amazing sight. These birds are the only native storks in the US. They nest in large flocks – and right now there are hundreds of them at the Wakodahatchee Wetlands. Egg incubation is about a month and so mid-April or so we would expect to see the fledglings in the nests.
In the photo that I took today, the female is sitting on the nest. The male stands watch over his family. The male tends to gather the nesting materials while the female actually constructs the nest. We are very blessed that Florida is a year-round habitat for the wood stork. Stay-tuned because I hope to take photos of the young storks to post here.