Last updated September 22, 2008, (c) Florida Atlantic University All rights reserved. A stork locates food -- mostly small, freshwater fish -- not by sight but by tactolocation, or groping with its bill in shallow water. Although this stork doesn't bring babies, it is a good flier, soaring on thermals with neck and legs outstretched. Storks require between 110 and 160 days for the annual nesting cycle, from the period of courtship until the nestlings become independent. Clearly, the southern Everglades ecosystem has been incapable of supporting viable populations of Wood Storks and other wading birds for several decades. These waders prefer wet, flooded habitats including wetlands, mangrove and cypress swamps, retention ponds, drainage ditches, and tidal pools. The indicator role of the Wood Stork is supported by the total number of all species of wading birds nesting in mainland colonies within the Everglades, which also has declined during the same time period. Wood Stork Habitat and Distribution . Storks were once more abundant in the wetlands of south Florida than in any other region throughout the southeastern states. In addition to documenting the deterioration of the ecosystem, the Wood Stork data provide information that is needed for successful restoration of the ecosystem. The Wood Stork used to thrive in south Florida because it is a specialized species that prefers tropical and subtropical habitats with distinct wet and dry seasons. Less typical habitats include the dense temperate forests used by European black storks, or the rainforest habitat sought by Storm's stork in South East Asia. For example, Wood Storks and Black Storks both forage primarily in aquatic habitats with muddy bottoms, but the Black species also inhabits mountainous regions. Knowledge of the habitat requirements of Wood Storks makes it possible to revise water-management practices to restore suitable feeding conditions for wading birds. Each breeding pair of these large birds requires about 440 pounds (200 kg) of fish per breeding season. Determine how nesting success and parental activities of wood storks, such as food delivery rates and parental nest attendance, are affected by apparent changes in prey availability in the landscape. Today, the Florida Everglades is the target of major environmental restoration efforts, which will affect the current hydrological and biological processes of the entire ecosystem, including Everglades National Park (ENP).

I will examine the relationship between chosen foraging habitats and other potentially suitable habitats across the landscape to determine relative habitat use verses the availability of suitable habitat. endstream endobj 30 0 obj <> endobj 35 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC]/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/Type/Page>> endobj 1 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]>>/Rotate 0/Type/Page>> endobj 3 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]>>/Rotate 0/Type/Page>> endobj 5 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]>>/Rotate 0/Type/Page>> endobj 7 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]>>/Rotate 0/Type/Page>> endobj 9 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]>>/Rotate 0/Type/Page>> endobj 11 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]>>/Rotate 0/Type/Page>> endobj 13 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC]/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/Type/Page>> endobj 16 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]>>/Rotate 0/Type/Page>> endobj 18 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]>>/Rotate 0/Type/Page>> endobj 20 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]>>/Rotate 0/Type/Page>> endobj 55 0 obj <>stream
Statement of the Issue The U.S. population of the wood stork (Mycteria americana) has declined by more than 50% since the 1960s and up to 75% in south Florida due to loss of wetland habitat and extensive alteration of the natural hydrological regime of the Everglades ecosystem (Ogden 1985, Kushlan and Frohring 1986, USFWS 1999).

Wood storks nest in colonies, and will return to the same colony site for many years so long as that site and surrounding feeding habitat continue to supply the needs of the birds. The restoration target for breeding pairs in the Everglades is 1,500 to 2,500 nesting pairs. Wood storks nest in mixed hardwood swamps, sloughs, mangroves, and cypress domes/strands in Florida (Florida Natural Areas Inventory 2001). Restoration of suitable Wood Stork habitat in the Everglades is expected to result in an increase in the number of Wood Storks in the area. Often the water is muddy and full of plants, conditions that obscure prey from sight. Habitat. H�tWێ�������@��~A����"�� ~X/����H�k��sN5)�� I�tWWչ�ߞ�'�E�����S~����s�yR��rW�������Je���������H��w�~����h;Qdi՝���N}��벰�x��k�y��E������/S�Uh;�o�J���/�����!ɭJ˚H�3�9nG�ma���з�N�)bb�g��Ǯ���wU�l#�z�� �(���n/GU�����ڎ2����S��ŋ>���S��qf]��ޞ����� 3|F������:q�u��@O�wsp�f�#�+��mǁ5�Ř/�[�Ʃ��4�Kݒm?�r�I����T=�,�R7k׋�d�/����)�Y�[��i��>���enl,�J�_�ilu��A�(��v`�����ib�p�������?��80 �NF���A�9K� �h�%%�����&���"os ����Ck��~׫;�X�`����� �-��/�іpy�o+����F�X�,��*��|]�M. The feeding behavior of Wood Storks has evolved over many thousands of years to reflect the natural conditions of the Everglades. John C. Odgen, James A. Kushlan, and James T. Tilmant, 1978, Relation of Water Level and Fish Availability to Wood Stork Reproduction in the Southern Everglades, Florida By 1995, fewer than 500 pairs of Wood Storks were nesting in the Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve area of south Florida. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) calls for the restoration of more natural water flows throughout the Everglades, which is intended to improve native plant and animal species abundance and diversity (RECOVER 2004a). The dwindling population of Wood Storks in south Florida does not mean that the species is going extinct, but that they have moved to more suitable habitat in other locations such as north Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Different species live in many different regions, and each species has their own range and distribution. The Wood Stork used to thrive in south Florida because it is a specialized species that prefers tropical and subtropical habitats with distinct wet and dry seasons. They generally avoid marine habitats, with the exception of the lesser adjutant, milky stork and wood stork, all of which forage in mangroves, lagoons and estuarine mudflats. Develop a foraging habitat use model for nesting wood storks from three southern Everglades wading bird nesting colonies and examine the relationship between apparent prey availability in the landscape and wood stork foraging habitat use (use versus availability). uuid:23b338a1-7070-49d6-accd-9b8cbf4eb70c %PDF-1.3 %���� A stork locates food -- mostly small, freshwater fish -- not by sight but by tactolocation, or groping with its bill in shallow water. This is the stork habitat. Homestead, FL Page Designed by Bryan Botson Adobe Acrobat 9.51 Paper Capture Plug-in Modern water-control programs in south Florida have so greatly changed the flooding and drying patterns of the Everglades that the survival of Wood Stork nesting colonies is in question. Often the water is muddy and full of plants, conditions that obscure prey from sight. Hydrologic conditions resulting from water-management activities in recent years often have been unfavorable to support Wood Stork feeding and nesting requirements. Since the 1930s, the number of breeding pairs of all wading birds has declined by 90 percent. 34 0 obj <> endobj 31 0 obj <>stream

In the marsh habitat of the Wood Stork, the effectiveness of this feeding technique increases as fish are concentrated in pools by seasonal water-level declines that result from the prolonged winter dry periods.



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