The wood stork, the pride of the southeastern United States and the only stork species native to North America, lives according to the rhythm of tides.
As the tide falls and fish become trapped in small pools, white-feathered waders stir up the mud with their feet and wait with their beaks wide open.
A 25-millisecond snap of its beak later—the fastest known reflex speed for a vertebrate—the 4-foot-tall stork is fed. Or, at least partially. A pair of wood storks, including their chicks, needs more than 400 pounds of fish to survive and raise their young.
Wood storks first adapted to the tides of the Florida Everglades, home to wet and dry seasons that offered plentiful low-tide opportunities. But decades of ditch-digging fractured marshes and decimated the species to just a quarter of its population, up to 5,000 nesting pairs.
In 1984, wood storks were placed on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) list of federally endangered species.
Over the decades, however, wood storks have made a comeback. On Feb. 8, the agency lifted federal endangered and threatened protections for the species entirely. That includes removing a layer of protection for wetlands identified as its critical habitat.
But the delisting could mean further trouble for wetlands, already threatened by changing federal policies.
“This delisting comes at a time when species face a storm of proposed federal rollbacks to habitat protections,” Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) Wildlife Leader Ramona McGee wrote in a statement. “This drastic loss of wetlands protection will have a negative impact on the wood stork’s chances of survival.”
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Wood Stork aerial photo of chicks
Wood Stork aerial photo of chicks
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The great Georgia escape
Much of the species’ rebound can be attributed to its exit strategy.
As Florida’s Everglades and its wood storks slipped into endangerment, the species first moved north to Georgia, where four nests were first spotted on Blackbeard Island in 1965.
Today, wood storks are found as far north as North Carolina and as far west as Alabama.
And its listing under the Endangered Species Act required development to steer clear of marshes where wood storks nested not just that year, but even just once over the past decade.
Not only did the law protect the bird, but it also protected the land.
“It conferred significant protection to wetlands that otherwise may have been altered,” said Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Wildlife Biologist Timothy Keyes.
And as habitat remained intact, nests grew in number.
Last year, Georgia Department DNR documented a state record count of nearly 3,000 wood stork nests across 30 or so colonies. In 2021, the birds surpassed their threshold of 10,000 breeding pairs required for delisting. In 2023, the FWS proposed to delist the species.
“I think everyone kind of felt that [the delisting] was warranted,» said Keyes.
The lands left behind
But many conservation advocates worry about what happens to the land when the blanket of bird protection is lifted.
“This move is short-sighted, especially with the loss of wetlands protections,” wrote SELC Spokesperson Terah Boyd.
In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Sackett vs. EPA that the Clean Water Act covers wetlands only when they have a continuous surface connection to traditionally navigable waters—effectively narrowing what qualifies as a wetland.
Over 80% of formerly protected wetlands now lack federal safeguards, amounting to about 70 million acres, according to a Natural Resources Defense Council Assessment report last year.
In November, the Trump Administration proposed further slimming the wetlands definition to lands that contain surface water throughout the “wet season,” connected to bodies of water that are also wet during that period.
These rollbacks are “undoubtedly a concern moving forward, and something to keep a close eye on,” Keyes said.
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Watching the next decade
The FWS and its partners, including DNR, will continue to keep a close eye on the wood stork, assured Keyes. The agencies will conduct annual monitoring for the next decade, especially due to their reliance on the tides.
“A lot of colonies just kind of blink in and out depending on water levels in a given year,” he said.
Protections under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act will remain, shielding migrating and nesting birds from human interference. But when nesting does not occur, people may clear vegetation and remove nest structures—posing another cause for concern, Keyes said.
“Will this translate to a loss of colonies?” he said. “I think that’s what the 10-year monitoring would hope to answer.”
The species is still protected from direct persecution, including hunting and inflicting of harm.