STORKS Ciconiidae
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| The storks are a fairly small family of large waders found locally in the tropics of the world. Some are strongly associated with swamps and wetlands, but others inhabit extensive grasslands. Three species breed in the temperate zone and then migrate to the tropics in winter. Among them is White Stork (above), fabled for nesting on roofs in Europe and as the 'stork that brings the baby.' The ten above were heading south through Israel in fall migration. The family has something of a 'beauty and the beast' personality. Some are colorful and elegant — like Saddle-billed Stork of African wetlands (below left) — and others are huge scavengers — like Greater Adjutant of south Asia (below right) — with a face that, well, you know . . . The latter species, alas, is now listed as endangered due to the loss of extensive wetlands in Asia, reducing breeding colonies to few and far between. | ||
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Finding a place to nest is critical to stork survival. Some huge storks,
such as the Jabiru of the Neotropics (below) build huge isolated
nests well protected by surrounding swamps and woods (it's at upper right
in the photo below left; both adults are standing on the nest). Jabiru
forms life-long pair bonds and often reuse the huge nest from year to year.
The extremely heavy bill is used to catch a wide variety of prey — fish
(eels predominate in the wet season), frogs, snakes, young caimans — but
this particular adult (below right) was hunting bottom-dwelling lungfish
and catfish during the dry season in the Brazilian pantanal (we saw it
catch several). At 8 kg it is by far the largest stork in the New World,
and only the largest male Maribou Leptoptilos crumeniferus and Greater
Adjutant can compete in size in the Old World.
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 Other
storks are colonial breeders, like these Painted Storks (left) in
India. These colonies are the backbone of the nesting waterbird avifauna
at the famed Bharatpur reserve in north India. In wet years huge numbers
will breed but in drought the isolated patches of trees they use are accessible
to predators. This, and the comparative lack of food in the reduced ponds,
limit breeding success. They have, however, adapted well to people. Indeed,
there is even an active breeding colony of wild birds in the New Delhi
Zoo.
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| Recent DNA analysis has shown that the storks are a well-defined, monophyletic
group, but that their relationships to other waterbird groups is obscure.
Sibley & Monroe (1990) had thought that New World vultures might be
related to storks, but newer biochemical evidence shows clearly that "New
World vultures and storks are distantly removed for one another" (Cracraft
et al. 2004).
The legend about White Storks bringing babies arose in northern Germany. To quote Elliott (1992): "It is interesting to note that storks start to arrive there about nine months after midsummer, which could mean that the legend goes right back into pagan times. It is certainly true that, until this century with its problems of overcrowding, most civilizations were very keen to have as high a birth-rate as possible, in order to have greater manpower for work and for fighting wars. The association of storks and babies was undoubtedly highly propitious for the bird, as people encouraged the birds to nest on their roofs, in the belief that they would bring fertility and prosperity to the house." Today we may not be looking at storks to "bring fertility and prosperity," but they are still impressive birds. Watching a swathe of Yellow-billed Storks and African Spoonbills (below) harvest fish in the African rift valley lakes by herding them toward shore is, indeed, an impressive sight.  |
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| Photos: The group of ten White Stork
Ciconia ciconia was at the Huleh Reserve, Israel, on 26 Oct 1981.The
Saddle-billed Stork Ephippiorhychus senegalensis was
in Tarangire Nat'l Park, Tanzania, on 6 Aug 2002. The
Greater Adjutants Leptoptilos dubius were at a rubbish
tip in Guwati, Assam India, on 30 Mar 2001.The Jabiru
Jabiru mycteria nest and adult was in the Brazilian Pantanal in Aug
1999. The Painted Stork Mycteria
leucocephala colony was at Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, in Aug 1978.
The Black African Open-billed Stork was along
the Grumeti River, Serengeti Nat'l Park, Tanzania, on 13 Aug 2002. The
Yellow-billed Storks
Mycteria ibis (with African Spoonbills
Platalea alba) were at Lake Nukuru, Kenya,, in Nov 1983. All
photos © 2005 D. Roberson; all rights reserved.
Bibliographic note There is no family book per se although skimmers are included in numerous texts which cover storks among large waders (e.g., herons, ibises). The account by Elliott (1996) in the Handbook of the Birds of the World series is a fine introduction, with many great photos. Literature cited: Cracraft, J., F.K. Barker, M. Braun, J. Harshman, G.J. Dyke, J. Feinstein, S. Stanley, A. Cibois, P. Schikler, P. Beresford, J. García-Moreno, M.D. Sorenson, T. Yuri and D.P. Mindell. 2004. Phylogenetic relationships among modern birds (Neornithes): toward an avian tree of life. Pp. 468-489 in J. Cracraft and M. J. Donoghue, eds. Assembling the Tree of Life. Oxford University Press, New York. |
