Originally described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus, this stork is native to the subtropics and tropics of the Americas where it persists in habitats with fluctuating water levels.

Globally, the wood stork is considered to be of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

In the United States, the wood stork was previously classified as Endangered due to loss of suitable feeding habitat in the Florida Everglades, its historical population stronghold in the country.

[3] The species has been subsequently downlisted to Threatened after northward range expansion and increased population size.

[4] Linnaeus originally named two separate species, M. americana and Tantalus loculator, based on different and slightly erroneous accounts, in his book Systema Naturae.

[8] The wood stork is classified within the tribe Mycteriini (which encompasses all species of genera Anastomus and Mycteria) based on morphology and behaviour.

[15] Newly hatched chicks have a sparse coat of grey down (protoptiles) that is replaced by a dense, wooly, and white down (mesoptiles) in about 10 days.

[24] The wood stork is able to adapt to a variety of tropical and subtropical wetland habitats[25] having fluctuating water levels, which initiate breeding.

[25] To feed, the wood stork uses freshwater marshes in habitats with an abundance of Taxodium trees, while in areas with mangrove forests, it uses brackish water.

[26] A resident breeder in lowland wetlands, the wood stork builds large (one-metre-diameter (3.3-foot)) nests in trees.

[28] For Taxodium trees, it generally nests near the top branches, frequently between 18 and 24 metres (59 and 79 ft) above the ground.

The nest itself is built by the male[30] from sticks[31] and green twigs[32] collected from the colony and the surrounding area.

Breeding is initiated by a drop in the water level combined with an increased density of fish (with the former likely triggering the latter).

This is because a decrease in the water level and an increased density of fish allows for an adequate amount of food for the nestlings.

[26] During the first week of incubation, the parents do not go far from the colony, with the exception of the short trips to forage, drink, and collect nesting material carried out by the non-incubating bird.

After a few hours of incubation, this bird sometimes takes a break to stretch, preen itself, rearrange nest material, or turn the eggs.

In the dry season, the stork generally forages by slowly walking forward with its bill submerged in water while groping for food.

[35] This bird can travel over 80 kilometres (50 mi) to reach foraging sites, lending it access to a wide variety of habitats.

[29] In the United States, Haemoproteus crumenium, a blood protozoan, can be found in subadult and adult wood storks.

When it is not sufficiently warm and clear, such as in the late afternoon or on cloudy days, this stork alternates between flapping its wings and gliding for short periods of time.

When it is warm and clear, this bird glides after it gains an altitude of at least 610 metres (2,000 ft) through continuously flapping its wings.

[15]When flying to foraging areas, the wood stork averages a speed of about 24.5 kilometres per hour (15.2 mph).

When it is hot, though, the adult takes a different position, quickly moving its tail downwards and forwards while twisting its body around to aim at a leg that is bent backward (this is called urohidrosis).

[32] The species most likely evolved in tropical regions and its North American presence probably postdates the last ice age.

A highly contiguous genome assembly of the wood stork has been produced with 31 autosomal pairs and both sex chromosomes identified.

[48] Globally, the wood stork is considered least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to its large range.

This is a recovery from its former status as endangered, which it held from 1984 to 2014 because of a decline in its population[18] caused by habitat loss and drought.

[49] Similarly, in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, its decline seems to have been reversed: after an absence between the late 1960s and the mid-1990s, the species is now again regularly encountered there, in particular in the Tubarão River region.

[51] Hunting and egg-collecting by humans has been implicated as a factor in the decline of South American wood storks.

Habitat alteration has been implicated as the main threat to wood stork populations in the United States.