Jabiru

Jabiru - Żabiru amerykański

 Brazil, Pantanal, 2013

Description

The Jabiru Stork is a very rare bird and is endangered throughout its range. It is the tallest flying bird found in South America and, often standing around the same height as the flightless and much heavier American rhea, and has the second largest wingspan, after the Andean condor. Large males may stand as tall as 1.53 m (5.0 ft.). The beak is black and broad, slightly upturned, ending in a sharp point. The plumage is mostly white, but the head and upper neck are featherless and black, with a featherless red stretchable pouch at the base. The sexes are similar in appearance but the male is larger, which can be noticeable when the sexes are together. While it can give the impression of being an ungainly bird on the ground, the jabiru is a powerful and graceful flier.

Habitat

The Black-necked Stork inhabits wetlands, such as floodplains of rivers with large shallow swamps and pools, and deeper permanent bodies of water. Occasionally individuals will stray into open grass, woodland areas or flooded paddocks in search of food.

Voice

Sounds of Jabiru

Diet

Jabiru eats prodigious quantities of fish, molluscs, and amphibians. It will occasionally eat reptiles, bird eggs and small mammals. It will even eat fresh carrion and dead fish, such as those that die during dry spells, and thus help maintain the quality of isolated bodies of water. They feed in flocks and usually forage by wading in shallow water. Jabirus detect prey more through tactile sensation than vision. They feed by holding their open bill at a 45 degree angle to the water. When prey is contacted, the storks close their bill, draw it out of the water, and throw their head back to swallow. It is an opportunistic feeder. In one instance when house mice experienced a population explosion in an agricultural area, and several hundred jabirus could be seen in each field feeding on the rodents (unusual for a bird that's rarely seen in large numbers anywhere). On rare occasions, jabirus have been seen attempting to kleptoparasitize the two smaller storks it co-exists with, the wood and maguari storks.

Reproduction

The nest of sticks is built by both parents around August–September on tall trees, and enlarged at each succeeding season growing to several meters in diameter. Nests are often deeper than they are wide, they can be up to 1 m (3.3 ft.) wide and 1.8 m (5.9 ft.) deep. Half a dozen nests may be built in close proximity, sometimes among nests of herons and other birds. The parents take turns incubating the clutch of two to five white eggs and are known to more territorial than usual against other jabirus during the brooding period. Raccoons and other storks (including their own species) are occasion predators of jabiru eggs, but most nest predators appear to avoid these huge-billed birds and there are no known predators of healthy adult jabirus. Although the young fledge around 110 days old, they often spend around another 3 months in the care of their parents. Because of this long length of time spent brooding, pairs have difficulty breeding in successive years. Less than half of active pairs in one season are active the next season. Only 25% of successful pairs are successful the next season. The lifespan average is 36 years.

Did you know?

The name of the Jaribu comes from the Tupi-Guarani language and means "swollen neck".
A nickname for the Jabiru is "Garzon Soldier".
Story from Australia where Jabiru was widespread :

Long time ago Jabiru and Brolga were sisters and like all sisters they fought. When their cousin the Emu tried to get in between a fight one day she got hurt and her blood made the head of the brolga red and the neck of the Jabiru likewise.

Photos by others

Donald and Esther's Travels

safaritalk.net

www.cambridgeincolour.com

Credits

Wikipedia