Mycteria

Mycteria Temporal range: Middle Miocene to Recent
Yellow-billed stork (M. ibis) in Uganda
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Ciconiiformes
Family:	Ciconiidae
Genus:	Mycteria Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Mycteria americana (wood stork) Linnaeus, 1758
Species
Mycteria americana Mycteria cinerea Mycteria ibis Mycteria leucocephala
Synonyms
Dissourodes

Mycteria is a genus of large tropical storks with representatives in the Americas, east Africa and southern and southeastern Asia. Two species have "ibis" in their scientific or old common names, but they are not related to these birds, and merely resemble some bald-headed ibises more than other storks do.

The Mycteria storks are large birds, typically around 90–100 cm in length with a 150 cm wingspan. The body plumage is mainly white in all the species, with black in the flight feathers of the wings. The Old World species have a bright yellow bill, red or yellow bare facial skin and red legs, but these parts are much duller in the wood stork of tropical America. Juvenile birds are a duller version of the adult, generally browner, and with a paler bill.

They are gregarious broad-winged soaring birds that fly with the neck outstretched and legs extended. They are resident breeders in lowland wetlands with trees in which they build large stick nests. Most species of Mycteria are diurnal, except for M. americana, which may be nocturnal.^[1]

These storks walk slowly and steadily in shallow open wetlands seeking their prey, which, like that of most of their relatives, consists of fish, frogs and large insects.