tags: Wood Stork, Wood Ibis, Mycteria americana, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Wood Stork (family: Ciconiidae), originally misnamed as the Wood Ibis even though it is only distantly related to the ibises (family: Threskiornithidae), Mycteria americana, photographed in Arthur Storey Park, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 19 November 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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I tried to make this a Whooping Crane, but the extent of the black under the wing, especially that hint of it near the front of the wing, wouldn't let me. I think this is a Wood Stork, which I think works better with the bird's overall impression of being a scruffy, blue-collar sort of bird. Whooping Cranes evoke a sense of slim elegance that I'm not getting here, though since I've never actually seen a Whopping Crane, I'm not sure where I'm getting that. From looking at too many Japanese silkscreened prints of cranes, maybe?
Anyway, I think that's a Wood Stork.
Good call, John. A couple of other clues: First, it appears that the tail is black. Second, you can actually see the tail. On a crane, (both N.Am. spp, at least) the tertials are extra long and droop over the tail.
My immediate impression was of a stork. It has a stork's stocky build.
yep, a Wood Stork (Mycteria americana): mostly white with a black tail as well as black primaries and secondaries; blackish-gray legs... another monochromatic species (male and female similar) that is essentially non-migratory...
No subspecies have been proposed as populations tend to show little genetic variation.*
*Stangel, P.W., J.A. Rodgers, Jr. and A.L. Bryan. 1990. Genetic variation and population structure of the Florida Wood Stork. Auk. 107:614-619.