[1] This stork was first described by Blasius in 1896, and named after the German sea captain Hugo Storm, a collector of zoological specimens in the East Indies.

[3] In Thailand, it is known as "nok kra su um", which refers to the birds’ fishing procedure by stalking along the bank of a stream in dense forest.

[4] After 45 days, the young resemble adults, but they are still smaller with shorter, dark-tipped bills and paler skin colourations, and the blackness of their plumage is slightly duller.

[2] Chicks have been heard to make a relatively loud froglike begging call when parents return to the nest with food.

[2] Despite being widespread on both of these islands, the population occurs at low densities and only one or a few individuals have ever been sighted together,[2] with the largest number being 12 during an observation in Brunei.

[4] However, the construction of the Chiew Larn Dam in the same year led to destruction of much of this stork's lowland forest habitat through extensive flooding.

[4] Following the flooding, Storm's stork was therefore believed to no longer breed there[15] and since then was previously considered extinct in Thailand.

[4] Because these habitats are largely inaccessible to humans, collecting data on this species is logistically difficult,[10] which may partly explain why little is known about this stork's natural history.

[19] Danielsen and Heegaard [20] have considered Storm's stork incapable of breeding in logged forests despite apparent short term survival.

[11] It appears to never frequent saline habitats,[22] but occasionally uses forested inland areas adjacent to bodies of water subject to tidal movements[1] and near mangrove swamps.

Collective breeding records of this species are currently scant possibly because nests are difficult to accurately locate in the dense forest habitat.

[10] Pairs of this stork species perform impressive aerial courtship displays in which both partners do flips in flight, with the lower birds presenting its feet to the upper.

[7][9] In captivity, another courtship display has been observed in which both partners face each other on the ground or on the nest, extend their wings outward from the body, and bow to each other repeatedly.

[10] Storm's stork feeds primarily on small fish, frogs, aquatic insect larvae, and sometimes earthworms.

[2] This stork typically forages stealthily with slow, deliberate movements and a retracted neck [22] along muddy banks of rivers and creeks within dense primary forest;[2][10] keeping primarily to the shaded areas.

[21] These include small pools, trackside puddles, swamps and oxbow lakes;[21] and the Storm's stork may be able to use these features optimally where they occur in a patchwork arrangement on riparian floodplains.

[22] In contrast, deep, fast-flowing rivers and waterways are avoided by this species due to reduced prey availability and its inability to stand in these waters.

[22] The primary threat to this species is degradation of its lowland forest habitat through deforestation for logging and conversion to oil palm plantations.

[25] Extensive habitat destruction has also occurred through flooding of lowland forest following the construction of reservoirs, as epitomised by the Chiew Larn Dam project in Southern Thailand.

[21] It may actually be somewhat tolerant of fragmentation because it could fly great distances in search of new habitat and be relatively unaffected by the open land matrix which it overflies.

[21] A larger impact of deforestation on the Storm's stork is more likely to be the decrease in freshwater faunal prey abundance and diversity resulting from increased sedimentation, nutrient loads and water temperatures after logging.

Road building through the forests to access logging areas creates similar problems by contributing to soil erosion, thereby also decreasing freshwater prey diversity.

[2][4][10] Hunting of this species by local people for food may have been happening before large-scale human encroachment onto its habitat to exploit the land.

[2] This was probably the case during extensive flooding of lowland forest in Southern Thailand during the Chiew Larn Dam project.

[10] Natural enemies of chicks and nesting adults are believed to include raptors such as crested serpent eagles Spilornis cheela, monkeys and corvids.

[2] Although captivity of Storm's storks may be a solution to support the global population, these birds may be unsuitable to reintroduce to their natural habitat because they have become too tame.

[10] This stork is sometimes hunted for food, either by native forest dwellers or non-natives who have been attracted to the area by large-scale land exploitation projects.

During these activities, Storm's storks are occasionally caught for food either directly by people who extract latex from the jelutong tree, or in baited traps for the monitor lizard Varanus serator.

[23] The population of this notably rare species has been thought to be in recent rapid decline, primarily due to clearance of its natural habitat to make way for oil palm plantations and logging activities.