#storks

[meklarian]

Wood Stork Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Black Point Drive Titusville, Florida, USA December, 2019

(more storks here)

[nemfrog]

Look up. Hansi the stork. 1932. Emma Brock, illustrator.

Internet Archive

[bookwormstarwarsfan]

Tumblr is celebrating the Ides of March for the death of a salad, but us Hungarians are remembering our revolutioner feedom fighters!

So I thought I would share my favourite little tradition connected to our National Day:

On every March of 15th, the Hortobágy Bird Hospital releases its recovered stork patients with national coloured ribbons in the presence of curious bird-lovers.

Pictures from today:

Source: Origo

[huariqueje]

Calendar sheet March with Storks on their Nest - Theodorus ' Theo ' van Hoytema , 1902.

Dutch, 1863-1917

Colour lithography , 45.0 x 21.0 cm.

[snototter]

An African openbill (Anastomus lamelligerus) forages for food in Chobe National Park, Botswana

by Dale Harding

[wachinyeya]

With Japanese know-how and the unwavering support of Japanese experts, Bhutan’s national bird is being hatched and hand-reared in captivity successfully for the first time ever.

The major hurdle to rearing chicks was overcome, and two healthy birds were just hand-reared, bringing the total captive population to five—a crucial lifeline to a bird that numbers less than 100 in the wild.

The critically-endangered white-bellied heron faces extinction due to habitat disturbance from human activities and predation. Professor Satoshi Shimano and his team from Hosei University, Japan, collaborated with the White-Bellied Heron Conservation Center (WBHCC) in Bhutan, to revive the species through direct intervention.

This heron is the world’s second largest, a symbolic bird for the people of Bhutan, and also a typical ‘umbrella species’ that requires a habitat with a vast, preserved environment. In recent years, the white-bellied heron population has decreased significantly.

As of 2024, it’s estimated there are fewer than 45 left in the world, although the official count stands at 60. It’s endemic to the Indian subcontinent, with approximately 25 individuals sighted in Bhutan, and the rest across the border in India. Conservation efforts for the species are limited and fragmented across the region.

In 2021, the Royal Society for Protection of Nature (RSPN) in Bhutan decided to begin efforts to artificially breed white-bellied herons outside their natural habitat, and the WBHCC was constructed and began operation in 2022. The WBHCC, located in the mountainous areas of south-central Bhutan, a six-hour drive from Bhutan’s capital, Thimphu, is supported by the Royal Government of Bhutan, international donors, agencies, and global philanthropists.

Two of the center’s three herons were collected as chicks from wild nests, and the other was rescued as a wounded bird. The center plans to collect not only chicks but also eggs from wild nests to artificially hatch them in an incubator. This was because monkeys were observed eating the heron’s eggs during incubation.

Since pair-bonded adults build their nests on steep cliffs and high trees, collecting chicks and eggs is extremely dangerous. A single nest typically produces around four eggs, and only 3–4 white-bellied heron pairs have been confirmed to nest in Bhutan.

--

A support team was formed, composed of experts from the Hyogo Park of the oriental white stork and several member associations affiliated with JAZA (Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums). These experts had been involved in the captive breeding of oriental storks, Okinawa rails, and Japanese crested ibises. The team visited the WBHCC twice in March and April 2024, during the breeding season, taking the Japanese experience with these birds with them. Equipment and supplies were donated to the WBHCC.

--

Even in Japan, it took more than twenty years to establish the artificial breeding technique for the storks and ibises.

“Japan, which knows the pain of having lost the endemic Japanese lineage and the subsequent efforts that followed, should be the one to make use of its own technique overseas,” said Shimano. “Everyone on the team is committed to supporting the white-bellied heron for the next 20 years.”

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“There have been past cases where efforts to prevent the extinction of both the crested ibis and the oriental stork have failed. In order to prevent a repeat of this, I hope that by providing the knowledge that Japan has, we can increase the number of these birds, even if only a little,” said Matsumoto.

The team is hopeful that, within 5 to 10 years, when the captive population rises to around 30 individuals, they will release a few into the wild.

[clawmarks]

Le livre de la jungle - Rudyard Kipling; Paul Jouve, ill. - 1919 - via e-rara

[antiqueanimals]

"White Headed Ibis (Tantalus leucocephalus)"

Indian Zoology; Second Edition. Translated from the Latin of Johann Reinhold Forster by John Aikin, M. D. Illustrated by Peter Mazell. 1790.

Internet Archive

[oogleydoodley]

[palmolli]

Fun fact! Loftwings in Skyward Sword were based on shoebill storks! They are very super kind creatures, and I'm not lying to you right now! SEE LOOK!

See how kind and gent-

Don't look at that.

[colonellickburger]

Vic Bákin. Storks I, 2022. Ukraine

[nordicsublime]

Nests for storks and starlings.

[verbrannt74]

White Stork

Another participation for Brrrdcember2024 - White Stork!

I couldn't pass by this day, since storks were my favourite birds in childhood - thanks to their contrasting coloring, elegance and big black-and-white wings.

[chaoticbisexualz]

Sodapop: Ponyboy’s asking where babies come from

Darry: Hmm…He’s too young tell him about the stork

Sodapop: okay

Sodapop: *to Ponyboy* Our mom slept with a Stork

Darry: *spitting out his drink* nO-

[snototter]

A marabou stork (Leptoptilos crumenifer) perches in a tree in Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya

by praveen pandian

[witchstone]

woke up to a message on the birding group chat about a slightly lost yellow-billed stork down at the botanic gardens and, as the youths say, made haste