Use of the foraging area by captive bred oriental storks (Ciconia boyciana) in a closed semi natural paddy field

Abstract

Rice paddy fields have been recognized as an alternative habitat for avian wetland foragers, and fish-rice farms have become a new tool in improving the abundance of aquatic animals. However, the use of the habitats by avian foragers, particularly by oriental storks (<TEX>$Ciconia$</TEX> <TEX>$boyciana$</TEX>), was not well understood. In the present study, we investigated how a fish-rice farm influenced the abundance of aquatic animals and documented the foraging behavior of the two captive bred oriental storks in a closed semi-natural paddy field. Our results showed that the fish refuge pond (water depth 40 cm) had a higher abundance of fish whereas the areas planted with rice (water depth 20 cm) had more tadpoles and some aquatic insects. The two captive bred oriental storks captured mostly fish and aquatic insects in the rice-planted area and mostly fish in the fish refuge pond. The two oriental storks had higher foraging success and spent more time for foraging in the rice-planted area than in the fish refuge pond. This result suggests that the oriental storks might prefer foraging in the area with fish, aquatic insects, and amphibians under a greater success rate presumably due to shallow water depth in the paddy fields with a fish-rice farm.