Wood Stork Nesting in Georgia: 1992-2005

Abstract

Wood Storks (Mycteria americana) were first recorded nesting in Georgia in 1965 at Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge (Harris 1995). In 1992, biologists initiated annual aerial surveys of known wading bird rookery sites to document Wood Stork distribution and estimate the number of nesting pairs in Georgia. Additionally, personnel from the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service and Savannah River Ecology Laboratory have contributed annual ground-count data for several colonies. Since surveys began, stork nesting has been documented at least once in 43 locations across the Coastal Plain of the state, with an average of 14 active sites per year. The documented nesting effort for storks has increased from four pairs in one wading bird colony in 1965 to a high count of 1,817 pairs in 19 colonies in 2005. A regression of log-transformed nest totals for the 14-year time-series (1992-2005) showed no significant overall trend in nesting pair numbers (P = 0.84) for that period. However, it is possible that an ongoing rebound from a drought-related crash could continue, resulting in an increasing trend. Thirty-three (77%) of stork nesting locations were on private land, with only ten (23%) nesting locations in public ownership. Seven colony sites have supported an average of 68% of the stork nesting effort since 1992; in 2005 these sites supported 77% of the nesting effort. Although not a systematic census of all potential stork nesting habitat, these standardized surveys have produced a useful estimate of Wood Stork population size, distribution, and stability in Georgia. We believe that Georgia’s Wood Stork population has shown an increase in size and distribution, and that numbers can continue to increase or stabilize as long as hydrologic conditions favorable to the species persist.