Question: What wading bird, a well-known member of Florida’s wetlands, was officially delisted from the federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife, as of today?
Answer: The wood stork
From the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: “When the wood stork was listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1984, it was on the brink of extinction. As the only stork species that breeds in the United States, its population had plummeted by over 75% since the 1930s. This sharp decline was largely due to habitat loss, especially in South Florida.”
“Today, the wood stork breeding population is estimated at 10,000-14,000 nesting pairs across roughly 100 colony sites—more than twice the number of nesting pairs and more than three times the number of colonies compared to when the species was listed.”
