Wood Stork

This is a wood stork.  Its scientific name is Mycteria americana.  It used to be called wood ibis, because it has a curved beak like an ibis.  But it is not really an ibis.  Its head looks like it is made out of a block of wood.  It is the only stork in North America, and it lives in Florida and Mexico in swamps, marshes, and ponds.  In the summer, you can find it further north.  It also lives in Central and South America and the Caribbean.  It eats fish, frogs, reptiles, and large insects.  Adult storks don’t usually get eaten by anything, but once in a while an American alligator gets one.  Corvids, vultures, grackles, striped skunks, and raccoons take the stork eggs out of the nests and eat them, so the adults have to guard their nests very carefully.

I saw this wood stork at SeaWorld‘s Pacific Point Preserve.  In the picture behind the stork you can see seals or sea lions.  I’m not sure which ones these are.