Wood stork

Wood storks feed by touch, sweeping an open bill through muddy water. When a fish touches the bill, it snaps shut in a fraction of a second, among the fastest reflexes known in vertebrates.

They nest in colonies in cypress swamps and depend on water levels falling at just the right time to concentrate fish for their chicks.

The wood stork was listed as endangered in 1984 after its Florida colonies collapsed. It has since spread north into Georgia and the Carolinas, where new colonies helped it improve enough to be reclassified as threatened in 2014. Georgia's swamps are now central to its recovery.

Nest — A platform of sticks in cypress or other trees over water, in colonies
Eggs — Usually three
Incubation — About 28 to 32 days
Chicks — Fed by both parents; a brood needs hundreds of kilograms of fish
Flight — At about eight weeks
Lifespan — Wild birds over twenty years are recorded

• Colonies are sensitive to disturbance; boats and people near nests can cause adults to abandon them.
• Draining of wetlands that dry down in spring removes the fish-rich pools chicks depend on.

• The bald head means the bird is old or sick. Adult wood storks naturally have bare heads.

• White ibis
• Great egret
• American white pelican