Wood Stork

Description:

Wood storks are tall, white denizens of freshwater or brackish wetlands and swamps. They can be identified by their long legs, featherless heads, and prominent bills. These waders feed on minnows in shallow water by using their bills to perform a rare and effective fishing technique. The stork opens its bill and sticks it into the water, then waits for the touch of an unfortunate fish that wanders too close. When it feels a fish, the stork can snap its bill shut in as little as 25 milliseconds—an incredibly quick reaction time matched by few other vertebrates. The storks prefer to employ this technique in isolated pools created by tides or falling freshwater levels, where fish congregate en masse. In some areas, such as Florida, breeding begins with the dry season that produces these optimal fishing conditions. Though wood storks eat small fish, they eat a lot of them. An average nesting pair, with two fledglings, may eat over 400 pounds (181 kilograms) of fish during a single breeding season. Wood storks are social animals. They feed in flocks and nest in large rookeries—sometimes several pairs to a single tree. Females lay two to five eggs, which both sexes incubate for about one month. Young fledge about two months after hatching. Wood storks breed in the southeastern United States and are the only stork to breed in the U.S. They also breed in Central and South America from Mexico to Argentina. Though U.S. populations are endangered—probably because of the loss of optimal feeding habitat—the South American stork populations are in better shape.

Habitat:

This is a subtropical and tropical species which breeds in much of South America, Central America and the Caribbean. The Wood Stork is the only stork that presently breeds in North America. In the United States there is a small and endangered breeding population in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, along with a recently discovered rookery in southeastern North Carolina. On the other hand, in Santa Catarina state (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.[4] It is likely that the Paraná River region's wetlands served as a stronghold of the species, from where it is now re-colonizing some of its former haunts.[5] Globally, it is considered a Species of Least Concern by the IUCN due to its large range.[6] The Wood Stork is a broad-winged soaring bird that flies with its neck outstretched and legs extended. It forages usually where lowering water levels concentrate fish in open wetlands; it also frequents paddy fields. Walking slowly and steadily in shallow water up to its belly, it seeks prey, which, like that of most of its relatives, consists of fish, frogs and large insects. It catches fish by holding its bill open in the water until a fish is detected.[7] In the United States. the Wood Stork favors cypress trees in marshes, swamps, or (less often) among mangroves and nearby habitat.[8] The Wood Stork's endangered status resulted in the salvation of the small rural town of Colquitt, Georgia. When the Department of Transportation was planning the construction of Highway 27, they intended to bypass the small community. The plans included a new bridge over Spring Creek and the swampy areas surrounding Colquitt. However, the residence of the Wood Stork in the swampy woodlands of Southwest Georgia required that the DOT use the existing bridge in Colquitt. Had the new bridge been built and the town bypassed, the town's economy would be little of what it is today. Colquitt is the home of Georgia's Folk Life Play, Swamp Gravy, a theatrical production which brings in audience members from across the country. The old movie theater on the town square is currently being renovated to be a conference and concert hall, named The Woodstork Center. A resident breeder in lowland wetlands with trees, the Wood Stork builds a large stick nest in a forest tree. They nest colonially with up to twenty-five nests in one tree.[8] Breeding once a year, a female lays 3-5 eggs in the typical clutch. The eggs are incubated 27–32 days by both sexes. Wood Storks' reproductive cycle is triggered when waterholes dry up sufficiently to concentrate fish in sufficient numbers for efficient feeding of the chicks. Each chick weighs approximately 2 ounces (60 grams), is unable to fly and is helpless. Competition for food is fierce, and if food is scarce, only the older chicks will survive. Week-old chicks are fed about 15 times per day, and they grow rapidly. By 14 days, each will weigh 10 times its hatching weight. At 28 days, each is 25 times heavier. During the breeding season, Wood Storks need over 400 pounds (180 kg) of fish to feed themselves and their offspring. When the weather is very warm, parents also collect water and bring it to the nest to drool on and into the mouths of the chicks. By the time the young are 4 weeks old, both parents leave the nest to search for food, and this continues until the chicks “fledge” or leave the nest. Young may continue to return to the colony for another 10 to 15 days to roost or to try to get food from their parents. A colony is considered successful if its parents average at least 1.5 fledged young per nest.[9] Each adult will defend its nest against various predators. Corvids, vultures, grackles and striped skunks will attempt to pick off eggs.[9] Raccoons are the leading predator of nests, and can cause almost complete colony nesting failure when water dries under nests in drought years.[10] Adults are rarely preyed on, but unwary ones have been picked off by American alligators.[11]

Notes:

Fast Facts Type:BirdDiet:CarnivoreAverage life span in the wild:11 to 18 yearsSize:Body, 33 to 45 in (85 to 115 cm); wingspan, 4.9 to 5.8 ft (1.5 to 1.8 m)Weight:4.5 to 5.8 lbs (2.1 to 2.6 kg)Group name:Colony or flockSize relative to a 6-ft (