Yellow-billed stork

Mycteria ibis

Photo by Arthur Morris (Birds as Art)

Common name:
yellow-billed stork (en); cegonha-de-bico-amarelo (pt); tantale ibis (fr); tántalo africano (es); nimmersatt (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Ciconiiformes
Family Ciconiidae

Range:
This species is found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, from southern Mauritania and Mali to Sudan and Ethiopia and south to Namibia, Botswana and eastern South Africa. It is also found in north-western Madagascar.

Size:
These birds are 90-105 cm long and have a wingspan of 150-165 cm. They weigh 1,9-2,3 g.

Habitat:
The yellow-billed stork is shallow wetlands with sandbanks or trees for roosting, including swamps, the margins or river, lakes and lagoons, marshes, flooded grasslands, alkaline lakes, reservoirs, rice fields, and occasionally in estuaries, mudflats and beaches.

Diet:
They hunt small aquatic animals, including fishes, frogs, aquatic insects, worms, crustaceans and more rarely small mammals and birds.

Breeding:
Yellow-billed storks are monogamous and nest in colonies of 10-50 pairs, often alongside ibises, herons, spoonbills, other storks and cormorants. The nest is built by both sexes and consists of a large platform made of sticks and lined with fine leaves, grasses and reeds. It is placed on top of a tree, often an Acacia, water fig Ficus verruculosa or baobab Adansonia digitata, 3-7 m above the ground or water. The female lays 2-4 eggs which are incubated by both parents for about 30 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 55-60 days after hatching, becoming fully independent 1 month later.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has an extremely large breeding range. Although there is no reliable information on population sizes and trends, overall the yellow-billed stork is believed to be declining due to wetland disturbance and destruction.

Maguari stork

Ciconia maguari

Photo by Aline Wolfer (Oiseaux d'Argentine)

Common name:
maguari stork (en); cegonha-maguari (pt); cigogne maguari (fr); cigueña maguari (es); maguaristorch (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Ciconiiformes
Family Ciconiidae

Range:
This species is found throughout most of South America east of the Andes, from Venezuela to central Argentina, but is mostly absent from the Amazon basin and from north-eastern Brazil.

Size:
The maguari stork is 90-105 cm long and has a wingspan of 150-180 cm. They weigh 3,5-4,5 kg.

Habitat:
They are mostly found in freshwater wetlands, such as swamps, flooded pastures, reedbeds and rice fields, but also in ponds within savannas, cultivated fields and grasslands.The maguari stork is present from sea level up to an altitude of 2.500 m.

Diet:
These birds feed on a wide range of aquatic animals, including insects, frogs and tadpoles, fishes, crustaceans, lizards, snakes and aquatic rodents.

Breeding:
Maguari storks breed in May-November. They form loose colonies of 5-20 pairs, each nesting on a huge structure made of sticks and twigs and lined with grass. The nests can be placed on a small tree or scrub up to 6 m above the ground, on floating vegetation or on the ground within dense reedbeds, always in a place surrounded by water. The female lays 3-4 dull white eggs, which are incubated for 29-32 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 60-72 days after hatching, but only become fully independent 5-6 weeks later.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and in spite of declines in some parts of the range in recent years, the population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

Black stork

Ciconia nigra

(Photo from Bird Banding and Nature)

Common name:

black stork (en); cegonha-preta (pt); cicogne noire (fr); cigüeña negra (es); schwarzstorch (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Ciconiiformes

Family Ciconiidae

Range:

They breed from Japan and north-eastern China, in the far east, along the temperate latitudes of Eurasia all the way to eastern and Central Europe. Asian birds migrate south to southern China, Myanmar and northern India and Pakistan. Central and eastern European birds migrate south to the Sahel and to Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. There are two isolated resident populations, one in Europe, in the Iberian Peninsula, and another in southern Africa, in Angola, Zambia and South Africa.

Size:

The black stork is 90-105 cm long and has a wingspan of 173-205 cm. They weigh 2,9-3 kg.

Habitat:

They breed in large marshy wetlands with interspersed coniferous or broad leaf woodlands, but also in hilly or mountainous forested areas with a sufficient network of creeks. In winter they can occupy almost any type of wetland, such as pans, rivers, flood plains, ponds, lagoons, dams, swamp forests, mangrove swamps, estuaries, tidal mudflats and patches of short grass close to water.

Diet:

They mostly eat fish, amphibians, bird nestlings and tortoises, but also insects and freshwater snails.

Breeding:

Black storks are monogamous, probably forming life-long pair bonds. They nest in April-September, with both sexes building the nest, a fairly flat platform made of dry reeds, sticks and other dry plant matter, with a shallow central bowl lined with grass and other soft material. The nest is typically placed on a cliff ledge or tall tree. The female lays 2-5 eggs which are incubated by both parents for 35-36 days. The chicks fledge 63-71 days after hatching, becoming fully independent 2 weeks later.

Conservation:

IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)

The species has a very large breeding range, but a relatively small population estimated at 24.000-44.000 individuals. The overall population trend is uncertain, as some populations are decreasing, while others are increasing, stable or have unknown trends. Overall the species is not considered threatened at present.