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Life History & Ecology of the Wood Stork (Mycteria Americana)

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Life History & Ecology of the Wood Stork (Mycteria Americana) LifeLife HistoryHistory && EcologyEcology ofof thethe WoodWood StorkStork ((MycteriaMycteria americana)americana) Dr. Shawn Liston Research Manager, SW Region Hart Rufe, St. Lucie Audubon WoodWood StorkStork MycteriaMycteria americanaamericana “Wood Ibis” • Only stork species currently breeding in the U.S. • Largest breeding colony in the northern hemisphere @ Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary • LENGTH: 33 ½ - 45 ½ inches • WINGSPAN: 59 – 69 inches • WEIGHT: 72 – 93 ounces (4 ½ - 5 ¾ lbs) HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS Wood Stork Mycteria americana • Often take advantage of atmospheric thermals – conserves energy (16.0 J/m flapping vs. 1.9 J/m soaring) • Heights over 1,000 m; travel over 40 km to feeding sites • When thermal updrafts are strong, WOST can glide 16-24 km (10-15 mi) with wings motionless HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS WoodWood StorkStork MycteriaMycteria americanaamericana Milky Stork Painted Stork Yellow-billed Stork (M. cinerea) (M. leucocephala) (M. ibis) HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS Historically,Historically, USUS populationpopulation summerssummers inin GAGA && SCSC andand winterswinters inin FLFL www.seaturtle.org HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS COLONYCOLONY SITESSITES FreshwaterFreshwater && marine-estuarinemarine-estuarine forestedforested habitatshabitats InundationInundation ofof treestrees detersdeters nestnest predationpredation HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS MonogomousMonogomous PairPair bondsbonds likelylikely dodo notnot endureendure forfor moremore thanthan aa singlesingle seasonseason NoNo apparentapparent sitesite fidelityfidelity fromfrom yearyear toto yearyear MaleMale establishesestablishes nestnest sitesite andand courtscourts femalesfemales CourtshipCourtship lastslasts hourshours toto daysdays MaleMale usuallyusually initiatesinitiates nestnest constructionconstruction HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS MostMost oftenoften nestnest inin mixed-speciesmixed-species coloniescolonies (esp.(esp. ANH,ANH, GREG,GREG, GBH)GBH) ClutchClutch size:size: 2-52-5 eggseggs MaleMale && femalefemale tendtend nestsnests (equally)(equally) IfIf 11 adultadult isis lostlost oror abandons,abandons, otherother adultadult maymay incubateincubate 2-32-3 daysdays beforebefore abandoningabandoning IncubationIncubation lastslasts 27-3227-32 daysdays NestsNests attendedattended byby atat leastleast 11 parentparent full-full- timetime untiluntil chickschicks areare ~20~20 dd oldold YoungYoung 50-6050-60 dd oldold beginbegin toto leaveleave nestnest FledgeFledge raterate varies:varies: averageaverage 1.2-2.91.2-2.9 fl/nestfl/nest HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS 2 WKS HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS 4 WKS HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS 6 WKS HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS FLEDGED HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS TheseThese littlelittle guysguys growgrow quicklyquickly andand needneed lotslots ofof food…food… HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS FEEDINGFEEDING SITESSITES NaturalNatural && artificialartificial wetlandswetlands (water(water depthdepth 10-3010-30 cm)cm) HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS Feed using TACTILOCATION (sim. to WHIB, GLIB, ROSP) WOST bill snap is one of the fastest reflex actions among vertebrates (~25 milliseconds) OftenOften useuse foot-stirringfoot-stirring and/orand/or wing-flickingwing-flicking FeedFeed singly,singly, inin groups,groups, inin single-filesingle-file lines,lines, inin mixedmixed speciesspecies aggregationsaggregations HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS ENERGYENERGY REQUIREMENTSREQUIREMENTS Chicks require ~16.5 kg food from hatching to fledging Adults require ~0.52 kg/bird/d (courtship, nest building, incubation, caring for chicks) x 120 d Small colony (100 pairs): 2 adults/nest fledging 1.5 fledglings/nest requires ~15,000 kg of food 1961 & 1966 CSS colony (6,000 pairs) required 440 lbs food/nest = ~2.6 million kg of food (estimates probably low- do not consider many factors) HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS Quite particular about water depth & prey density (Gawlik 2002) HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS Appear to remove larger prey first Frequency distributions of fish length (SL, mm) collected in 1-m2 throw trap on successive days of heavy wading bird foraging Not true prey “Day 1” = 3/13/09, “Day 4” = 3/16/2009 (bars represent 1 mm size classes) preference (tactile feeders cannot be 200 120 selective) 100 Likely an artifact of 150 F 1 r e y 80 prey behavior q a u e D n – c y y c 100 60 – n e D u a q y e r 40 4 F 50 20 Day 1 0 0 Day 4 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 Fish Length (SL, mm) HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS Literature suggests diet is primarily fish Ideally: fish 2-10 cm OpportunisticOpportunistic:: alsoalso consumeconsume plantplant material,material, insects,insects, snails,snails, crayfish,crayfish, grassgrass shrimp,shrimp, amphibians,amphibians, reptiles,reptiles, smallsmall mammals,mammals, mammalmammal dungdung HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS OurOur datadata suggestsuggest crayfishcrayfish areare likelylikely anan importantimportant dietdiet componentcomponent inin thethe wetwet seasonseason (October-January)(October-January) HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS CONCEPTUAL ECOLOGICAL MODEL Coastal Salinity Gradients HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS WET SEASON Most of the landscapelandscape isis inundatedinundated Aquatic fauna are dispersed throughout the system HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS As water levels recede, fish instinctivelyinstinctively move toward deeper areas HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS DRY SEASON Fauna become trapped in refuges Wading birds & other predators take advantage of high prey density Crayfish burrow underground HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS From flat sheetflow with shallow dimpled pools to a patchwork of ditches, roads, dikes, deep lakes. This systemic alteration has degraded wetland ecology - from primary productivity to top predators HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS HOW TOID HOW Nest Numbers 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 2000 4000 6000 8000 0 DISTRIBUTION 1958 1960 1962 MIGRATION 1964 Wood Stork Nesting at Corkscrew 1966 1968 1970 NESTING 1972 1974 No. of Nesting Pairs Nesting of No. FEEDING 1976 1978 1980 Year 1982 DIET No. of Birds Fledged Birds of No. 1984 1986 ECOLOGY 1988 1990 1992 1994 IMPACTS 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS Short Hydroperiod Wetlands provide a critical function for Wood Storks and other wading birds • Wetlands available for foraging in Nov/Dec - short hydroperiod wetlands • Productivity plummeted as a result of loss of Nov/Dec foraging habitat • Major shift in nest initiation from Nov/Dec to Jan/Feb in late 70’s • Preservation/restorationPreservation/restoration ofof Nov/DecNov/Dec wetlandswetlands isis vitalvital toto StorkStork recoveryrecovery HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS FutureFuture WOSTWOST populationpopulation trendstrends inin SouthSouth FloridaFlorida If they initiate nesting early (Nov-Dec) 28% increase over next 30 years If they continue to nest late (late Jan-Mar) 38% decrease over next 30 years (unpublished data, Rena Borkataria, UF) HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS Pressure to develop these few remaining short hydroperiod wetlands increases threat to WOST in SW FL HOW TO ID DISTRIBUTION MIGRATION NESTING FEEDING DIET ECOLOGY IMPACTS SpecialSpecial thanksthanks toto JasonJason LauritsenLauritsen (Assistant(Assistant Manager,Manager, CorkscrewCorkscrew SwampSwamp Sanctuary)Sanctuary).
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