Having family nearby can be a mixed blessing. Ideally, they will be supportive and helpful even in the most challenging times.
The relatives will know all the problems present, given their immediacy and interest. If threats materialize, aid is assured and assistance from the family is promptly rendered.
The downside is these close kin likely compete for many of the same resources in close proximity which are easily identifiable.
Such is the case with the Wood Stork, Mycteria Americana, a native north Florida wading bird with a uniquely distinct and somewhat rumpled appearance.
Storks are frequently seen near water bodies where they find ample nourishment for themselves and their chicks. Careless little creatures soon become a meal.
The local storks are social birds and may have up to 25 nests in one tree. The nests are usually found in swamps and wetlands where tall cypress trees offer ideal nesting sites.
The adults have few problems with predators, but the eggs and young are quite susceptible to marauding birds and other animals. Raccoons, skunks, grackles (black birds), and buzzards are all waiting for the opportunity to dine on the young occupants of a stork’s nest.
The watery moats which usually surround the nesting trees commonly contain alligators and large water moccasins, an effective deterrent to raccoons and skunks that would otherwise pillage the nesting sites.
During dry years when the water recedes, the land-bound predators have a much easier time acquiring a stork dinner.
From the stork’s perspective, the swamps and wetlands deliver more than security. Fish, insects, frogs, snakes and small mammals all live in or near these water sources and each are popular meal selections for storks and their young.
When it comes to food, there is no professional courtesy between wood storks. Days are spent in the endless search for groceries to sustain both their families and themselves.
Storks produce one clutch of eggs annually, usually with three to five eggs. The incubation period takes about a month, and then a completely helpless two-ounce chick breaks through the eggshell.
The tiny chicks arrive with a super-sized appetite which challenges their parent’s ability to keep the groceries flowing. Within a week each chick is consuming 15 meals daily and gaining weight.
At two weeks the chick will have increased its bulk tenfold and at a month will have reached over four pounds. Full grown adults weigh four and a half to 10 pounds, depending on the bird’s sex.
At this point both parents are busily seeking any food source the young will eat. It takes almost a quarter ton of rations to feed the family while raising the young.
In normal to wet years, the nourishment for the flock is readily available in the surrounding woods and waters.
Drought years are a problem for wood stork chicks, especially the late hatching ones. When food sources are short, competition for this resource becomes increasingly severe and antagonistic.
In extreme cases only the older chicks are fed, leaving the younger ones to starve.
Unlike many wading birds which wait for a fish to swim within plucking range, wood storks actively pursue their quarry. They submerge their open bills until they encounter a fish, and then snap it shut on the unlucky swimmer.
One of the wood stork’s unique qualities is it has no vocal call. This bird is mute and without the required organ necessary for uttering a sound.
Their large and resonant bill, however, is used for communication. A series of clattering and clicking sounds are used for communication, likely another reason to keep the wood stork family close.
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