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For the Love Of Nature, Art and Bad Humor
A Comic Gallery of Creative Expression in the Pursuit of Knowledge
Wood Storks
Mycteria americana (Wood Ibis, Flintheads, Stoneheads, Ironheads, Gourdheads)
A sub-tropical, tropical species native to the
Americas and Caribbean.
They feature:
bald heads,
backwards knees
and have a habit of
pooping on themselves and
vomiting on their babies.
A little different from the typical vision of storks-
who are graceful, (poop-free) symbols of luck,
springtime and bringers of blissful, newborn
human-nugget joy bundles.
Considering the whole vomiting on
babies thing, you might not want
Mr. Poop Legs Crane to be the
one delivering your baby.
And you might be questioning his
unusual parenting techniques.
But despite your
understandable suspicions,
they are EXCELLENT parents.
In fact, they are so
dedicated to parenting
that they won’t even
leave their nest to
escape the scorching,
mid-day sun.
Instead to cool off, they just defecate on
their own (vascular) legs.
The evaporation of poo-poo moisture creates
a cooling effect keeping them reasonably comfortable.
Regurgitating water
on their babies keeps them cool too.
Ahhhh, gross but sweet relief.
They are a social, 3 foot tall, massive wading bird with
a scaly, bald head, long curved bill, weird backwards
knees, and long (sometimes poo poo covered) legs.
They can be found solo or feeding in groups around
wetlands, swamps, ponds and fresh and brackish marshes.
Slowly walking around with their heads down toward the
water and beaks partly open as they search for lunch.
When they feel something on their bill it quickly
snaps closed in 25 milliseconds!
The fastest reflex studied in birds ever.
Their daily menu includes fish, crustaceans, invertebrates, small reptiles and mammals,
plants and seeds.
All swallowed whole to be digested
and turned into future,
cooling poop-poop showers.
Poop Poop is useful in nest building as well.
Both parents gather sticks and build large
3 - 5 ft wide bulky stick nests together.
It takes 2 - 3 days to build which they then line
with greenery and...POOP.
Which when dried makes an excellent glue.
They nest in the winter or spring in cypress or
mangrove rookeries with other storks, egrets and herons.
They lay 1 - 5 eggs which they take turns
incubating for about 30 days.
Both parents feed their vomit covered babies too.
(Isn't it great how they're both involved?)
For the first 5 weeks they take turns guarding
the nest while the other parent forages.
At 8 weeks the babies take short flights but
return to be fed, vomited on and to sleep.
By 11 weeks the parents are empty nesters.
However by that time, usually only 1 nestling makes
it to this stage due to predators, nest collapse
and insufficient food supplies.
The parents will then part ways but return
to nest again in the same area next year,
but not usually with the same partner.
By 3-4 years, young storks are ready to
be parents themselves, carrying on the vomiting and pooping tradition
for the next generation.
They are often seen flying high into the sky-
soaring on thermals like vultures.
But even being excellent fliers doesn’t save them
from predators, disease, pesticide poisoning and
collisions with cars and power lines.
It also didn't save them from that time in history when their black and white flight feathers became a popular addition to women's hats.
Luckily, that fashion trend has NOT
made a comeback.
They are now federally protected because of
the direct loss of thousands of acres of former wetland habitat and changes in the hydrologic patterns
of many of the wetlands that remain.
Since Wood Storks time their nesting cycles
with wetland water levels, disruptions of
historical hydrologic regimes have caused
the failure of many nesting colonies.
All the above has reduced their numbers
drastically over the years.
Was it the stress of environmental change
that made them bald?
No... But these excellent birds
(and their home) deserve protection
so they can poop on their own feet
for generations to come.
References:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wood_Stork/overview#
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/wood-stork
https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/birds/waterbirds/wood-stork/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_stork
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/facts/wood-stork
Special thanks to Jay Exum, Ph.D. Wildlife Ecology for his expert fact checking!
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