The maguari stork has a relatively wide distribution over much of South America, and occurs primarily to the east of the Andes. It lives in the llanos of Venezuela and eastern Colombia; Guyana; eastern Bolivia; Paraguay; Brazil, but rarely in the Amazon and the north-east,); Uruguay and Argentina. The most southerly part of the range lies in the Chubut province. It more rarely occurs to the west of the Andes (e.g. in Chile) and probably does not breed there. It is a rare visitor to the Surinam coast from March until May and also been reported as a vagrant on Trinidad and Tobago.