What We Know About Black Storks

Cameras Watching over Black Storks nest
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Liz01
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Re: What We Know About Black Storks

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Gular Fluttering Dissipates Heat

“An important environmental adaptation for many caprimulgiformes is the ability to withstand high ambient temperature (Ta). Birds of this order are most common in warm climates, and frogmouths, potoos, and nightjars all roost and nest in the open where they can be subjected to long periods of direct sun exposure. In these circumstances, they avoid hyperthermia by using evaporative cooling strategies. Nightjars dissipate heat by gular fluttering, during which the mouth is opened, the rate of blood flow to the buccal area is increased, and the moist gular area is rapidly vibrated.” (Fowler and Miller 2003: 225)

“When poorwills are exposed to high temperatures, they increase evaporation of water by initiation of gular flutter and by some increase in breathing rate. Gular flutter supplements evaporation due to respiration, and involves a rapid vibration of the moist membranes of the gular region, driven by the hyoid. The rate of gular flutter in the poorwill is relatively constant and independent of heat load, and evaporation due to flutter is modulated by varying the amount of time spent fluttering, as well as the amount of air moved per flutter.” (Lasiewski 1969:1504)

source: https://asknature.org/strategy/gular-fl ... ates-heat/

Urohidrosis as an overlooked cooling mechanism in long-legged birds
Behavioural thermoregulation could buffer the impacts of climate warming on vertebrates. Specifically, the wetting of body surfaces and the resulting evaporation of body fluids serves as a cooling mechanism in a number of vertebrates coping with heat. Storks (Ciconiidae) frequently excrete onto their legs to prevent overheating, a phenomenon known as urohidrosis.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-99296-8
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Message from Urmas on October 27th. Thank you Urmas!

Solitude at periphery: lack of partners limits reproduction of the Black Stork (Ciconia nigra) at the margin of the distribution range


Annika Konovalov, Rein Nellis, Renno Nellis, Ain Nurmla, Urmas Sellis & Ülo Väli*

https://www.academia.edu/89297178/Solit ... view-paper
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:thumbs: Very interesting study. IMHO, it also legitimates once more all the efforts taken to save as many youngsters as possible on the nests we/you have been watching. The tracker maps up to now show the reward for blood, sweat and tears invested in such efforts. - Thank you! :2thumbsup:
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I found a very interesting article about eggs and communication between siblings in the egg & the parents. it also includes why female change their diet just before laying eggs. That's something I've observed myself. they desperately need calcium. That's why we have fed egg shells to the chickens.

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oology

The egg and everything
How chicks learn for life before they hatch and some birds don't color their eggs until after Easter.


The article is by Thomas Krumenacker

He was a bit pathetic, the US author and civil rights activist Thomas Wentworth Higginson. But maybe he's right. "If I had to name, under penalty of death, the most perfect creation of the universe, I would bet my fate on a bird's egg," he wrote in an 1862 essay in the Atlantic Monthly. Not only writers have always been fascinated by the bird's egg - a mini living space that offers everything in many colors, shapes and patterns to produce later flying artists. Collectors pay outrageous sums for rare species eggs, and sometimes even go to jail for their often illegal passion. In zoology, a separate sub-discipline, oology, is dedicated solely to the outside of the bird's egg, biologists research the inside - and yet many mysteries about the miracle that birds bring into the world remain unsolved.

Small birds, large clutches

The number of eggs a bird lays varies greatly depending on the species. A basic rule is that the smaller a species and the lower the life expectancy, the more eggs it lays and the sooner it starts incubating. The logic behind this is simple: birds lay as many eggs as their species needs to survive. The short-lived blue tit rears up to 15 young in a brood and begins breeding at one year of age. Deep seabirds such as the fulmar, with a life expectancy of 40 years, only lay one egg and only begin reproduction at the age of nine - sometimes as late as 16 years.

The size of the clutches often fluctuates extremely with the food supply in a breeding season. When the table is plentiful with caterpillars and insects, the same bird of some species lays three times as many eggs as in lean times. Owls and some raptors automatically adjust the number of their eggs to the periodic reproduction cycles of mice or lemmings: in mice

years the clutch of a short-eared owl has up to 14 eggs, in years of scarcity only a few, or the brood even fails completely.

The right laying time

Most songbirds, such as skylarks or nightingales, lay their eggs soon after sunrise. In this way they avoid having to carry the relatively large and heavy egg around with them during the day. Cuckoos always lay their eggs in the afternoon because their host birds, who are scouted out as foster parents, laid in the early morning and are looking for food in the afternoon. In this way, the cuckoo minimizes the risk of being discovered. As an adaptation to their much smaller host birds, cuckoos also have disproportionately small eggs, making transport less of a burden.
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weight records


The smallest bird species on earth, the bee sprite, also lays the smallest eggs. The eggs of this hummingbird that lives in Cuba measure only 6.3 millimeters and weigh just half a gram. The egg of the smallest bird in Germany, the goldcrest, weighs 0.78 grams and is 13.6 millimeters long the scales. Real heavyweights, on the other hand, are wren eggs weighing 1.3 grams. The heaviest bird egg in the world comes from the ostrich and weighs about 1.5 kilograms at 15 centimeters in length. In our latitudes, the mute swan egg is the heaviest and largest bird egg, weighing over 300 grams and measuring 11.5 centimeters in length.

snails into shells

Just before laying eggs, female birds radically change their behavior and diet. Daring hunters like the female hawk suddenly just sit around and let their partner feed them. Any risk of injury and thus damage to the eggs is avoided with great discipline. During this time, however, the female birds also need many nutrients that otherwise play no important role, above all calcium for eggshell production. This poses a particular challenge for bird species that lay a lot of eggs - and without sufficient calcium, some bird species will not even start breeding.

The blue tit, for example, often lays more than a dozen eggs. To do this, it needs more calcium than is available in its entire skeleton. Like other bird species, she therefore changes her diet shortly before laying eggs. Especially in the evening hours in spring you can therefore observe tits or goldcrests nibbling off snail shells in the garden.

Bern to get the required raw material. Arctic breeding birds nibble on the bones and teeth of lemming skeletons that were prey of skuas, or they peck at the pellets containing the indigestible remains of prey that raptors and gulls spit out after eating. The appetite for such delicacies overcomes the birds, especially in the evening. This is because the valuable raw material is absorbed "just in time" so that it is available to the body during the nightly egg production.

Form follows function


Although they all serve the one purpose of being a good home for the embryo, eggs come in an almost infinite variety of shapes, speckles, and hues. The color and grain can be explained by the fact that they serve to camouflage against enemies and to be recognizable for one's own parents. Cave breeders like woodpeckers have white eggs because they don't need camouflage.
But why do owls lay spherical eggs, while hummingbirds lay elliptical eggs, and why do seabirds often lay cone-shaped eggs? The theories are as numerous as the forms. Some researchers assume that certain egg shapes allow the embryo a better supply of oxygen depending on the nesting site. Or they are simply more stable.

Two years ago, US researchers caused a sensation in scientific circles with a new theory. They compared the shapes of 50,000 eggs from more than 1,400 bird species and concluded that there was a link between egg shape and each species' ability to fly. The better a species can fly, the more asymmetrical or elliptical its eggs are, so the theory goes. The explanation for this: Good pilots need a particularly streamlined physique. In order for the eggs to fit through the female bird's fallopian tube, which is narrower with this body type, they have to be shaped accordingly.

Other researchers doubt this theory and see more important reasons for the development of the egg shape in the breeding behavior and the breeding location: seabirds, for example, which lay their eggs without a nest, close together on the smallest, often sloping rocky outcrops, form pear-shaped eggs. This prevents the eggs from falling down the cliff when no parent bird is watching or when the neighbors are crowded again, believe
British researchers.

chemistry in the stomach


Bird eggs are also always a reflection of pollution. The insecticide DDT brought many bird species to the brink of extinction in the 1970s. The chemical had made the eggshells so thin that they broke as soon as a

bird settled on it to breed. DDT is history after it was banned worldwide and many bird species such as peregrine falcons and white-tailed eagles have experienced an unexpected boom since then.

Other environmental hazards continue to threaten bird eggs to this day, plastic for example. Plastic chemicals have recently been found in eggs of fulmars, a seabird the size of a gull, in one of the world's most remote breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic. Researchers suspect that the substances, softeners for the caps of plastic bottles, get into the bodies of the female birds. Many seabirds eat plastic, believing it is natural food. However, the swallowed parts cannot be digested and are too large to be excreted. They often remain in the birds' stomachs, where the chemicals are released through the gastric juices. The mix of chemicals found in the bird's eggs is associated with metabolic diseases and fertility problems.

The acid rain caused by air pollution in the 1980s not only burned historic house facades or damaged the trees. Dutch scientists discovered that the loss of tits observed at the time was an indirect result of the acid rain. This led to a dying of snails and thus to an acute shortage of raw materials for the egg production of the tits.

oxygen supply

Bird embryos need to breathe too. This is why bird eggs are not hermetically sealed, but are criss-crossed by hundreds, sometimes thousands, of wafer-thin pore channels. They connect the surface of the egg to the inside. Their number depends on the size of a bird species.
A large emu egg has 30,000 pore channels, while a wren's egg gets by with 300. Such a wren pore canal has a diameter of one 3000th of a millimeter. Oxygen gets in through these air shafts and carbon dioxide is expelled to the outside.

The water vapor that develops from the egg yolk when the embryo absorbs food also escapes through the pores. The female birds can even adapt the size and number of pore channels in their eggs individually to the current environmental conditions. Experiments with chickens have shown that at higher altitudes, where less gas escapes from the egg due to the atmospheric pressure, the same female bird produces eggs with fewer and smaller pores than in the lowlands. Birds must therefore be able to measure the air pressure in some way and then use this information physiologically.
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firewalls

Eggs do not have an immune system that protects the embryo from microbes such as viruses, fungi or bacteria. Instead, there are two main lines of defense against the microbiological threat. The first firewall is on the outside of the egg in the form of a fine epidermis, the so-called cuticle. It is intended to prevent microbes from entering the pore channels. Bird species with a dry and therefore hygienic nest environment do not have cuticles on the eggs. This includes many songbirds. It is assumed that this is due to the lower risk of infection.

As a further firewall, there is a membrane on the underside of the eggshell inside the egg, which acts like a net trap against bacteria with an ultra-fine mesh structure. The egg membrane is particularly thick in species with particularly microbial environments, such as some seabirds such as cormorants, which lay their eggs on fecal ledges, probably as a reinforced defense.

Homemade Antibiotic


The hoopoe only dyes its eggs after Easter. When the females lay their eggs in a tree hollow in May, they are milky grey. But the female quickly changes that. She smears the eggs with a secretion that she produces in her preen gland on the lower back until they are dirty-brownish. Birds usually groom their own plumage with the secretion from the preen gland, which they can easily reach with their beak. It contains water-repellent and antibacterial substances. However, hoopoes also use the secretion to protect their eggs. This is because these do not have an outer antibacterial protective layer and would be vulnerable to attacks from viruses or bacteria without additional impregnation.

Spanish scientists have proven that the hoopoe secretion has an extremely strong antibiotic effect. In order for the liquid to stick to the egg shells, hoopoe have eggs

in contrast to eggs of other species, numerous mini-pits on the shell surface in which the secretion can collect. Researchers demonstrated experimentally that the more densely the protective shield of antibiotic gland secretion was applied, the greater the breeding success of the hoopoe.

foot heating

An egg cannot keep itself warm, the bird parents have to do that. The optimal incubation temperature is around the human body temperature of around 37 degrees. In order to guarantee this over several weeks, small songbirds in particular rely on a well-insulated home. Bird nests are often densely woven works of art with thick walls of moss, lichen and cobwebs, which are padded and insulated with feathers on the inside. But the fluffiest nest alone is not enough. The mother birds, sometimes also the fathers, lose a few feathers of their abdominal plumage shortly before laying and a bare brood patch develops. This enables heat to be transferred directly from the bird's skin to the egg.
The direct connection also allows parents to measure the temperature and thus regulate it.

The goldcrest faces a particular problem. It is as small as two fingernails wide and weighs as much as a teaspoon of sugar: the little bird cannot possibly cover all of its often ten or twelve eggs with its body. His trick: During incubation, the goldcrests pump more blood into their legs, which they then wrap around the eggs like radiators. Experienced observers can see that. If a female comes fresh from the clutch, it has bright red blood-stained legs. On the other hand, if it does not breed, they are brownish-yellow. Measurements have shown that goldcrest legs are 41 degrees warm when incubating, but only a normal 36 degrees after ten minutes away from the nest.

The emperor penguins have developed another variant: they incubate the egg on their feet under their dense abdominal plumage - in the middle of the Antarctic winter.

security signature

For many songbird species, the cuckoo is the greatest threat. If the cuckoo's egg is not recognized, this means certain death for the brood, because the little cuckoos throw other eggs as well as siblings out of the nest immediately after hatching in order to enjoy the care of the involuntary foster parents. It has been known for a long time that female cuckoos imitate their eggs to match the coloring of their respective host bird species. It was only a few years ago that researchers were able to prove that victims with their own adaptations in this

fight back the evolutionary arms race. Using pattern recognition software, they examined hundreds of bird eggs and discovered that birds have developed a kind of personal handwriting for their eggs in order to quickly recognize cuckoo eggs. The more a species is preyed upon by cuckoos, the more complex the patterns on the shell, similar to the security signatures on banknotes, which are almost impossible to duplicate. In the course of evolution, other cuckoo victims developed the strategy of laying eggs that were as identical as possible in order to be able to recognize any deviation. A third strategy is for the eggs of different females of the same bird species in a region to be extremely different from one another in order for the cuckoo to fail in its adaptation to an average egg color.
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Mom's password

Once a cuckoo chick has hatched, the host parents can usually no longer tell it apart from its own young and tend to it with devotion until it is exhausted. The situation is different with the Australian flagtails, small, agile songbirds. They often abandon their nests when there is a young cuckoo in it.

Curious about how they do this, researchers monitored songbird nests - and found that the females sing during incubation; an unusual behaviour, after all singing in the bird world usually serves to advertise a partner or to demarcate territory. The addressees of the songs, which are only two seconds long but very complex with 19 different elements, are neither partners nor neighbours, but the unhatched embryos. The song for the offspring always begins on the ninth day of incubation and continues until the young hatch a week later. The more similar the begging calls of the hatched chicks are to the mother's song, the more eagerly they are fed.
If their calls do not resemble the mother's song at all, the young bird is convicted as a cuckoo and is not fed

But why can't the cuckoo children learn the stepmother's song too? The clever little birds have taken care of this with the right timing: The Australian red-tailed cuckoos lay their eggs in the foreign nests around the twelfth day of incubation, i.e. only a few days before hatching. This makes sense as the cuckoos are usually the first to hatch so that they can throw their step-siblings' eggs out of the nest and secure all the food for themselves. However, in the case of the tricky Magnificent Tails, the timing proves to be fatal: in the few days before hatching, the cuckoo chicks in the egg evidently no longer manage to learn the password for parental feeding. Further investigations have shown that the password audition also has a price for the splendid cocks. The females also attracted nest robbers by singing.

Other bird species also communicate with the egg. This develops a bond between parents and offspring, but the prenatal conversations also have a very practical function: seabird species that incubate egg by egg in colonies have memorized the pattern of the spotting after laying their eggs to protect their own eggs to recognize. Now they have to memorize their chick's voice in order to feed the right baby. And the chick needs to know those of the parents in order to beg for food from the right birds.

The feat of hatching

When it comes time to venture out into a new life outside the egg, the chick, much like a human infant, must stop getting oxygenated through its blood vessels and start using its lungs to breathe. It takes its first breath when it pecks at the air pocket that has formed at the blunt end of the egg as the yolk and albumen are used up. This step is vital because with less oxygen supply through the blood vessels, the chick would not have enough energy to perform the feat of breaking open the eggshell. The chick stores the remaining egg yolk in its yolk sac as provisions for the strenuous first hours outside the egg. Then it's time to get to work. The beak pecks at the eggshell, legs and shoulders press against it until it gives way. As a tool, the chicks have previously formed a particularly hard calcium structure on the tip of their beak, the egg tooth.

With some bird species, the parents help out from outside. In any case, after hatching, they remove the telltale signs of eggshells for nest robbers. Some eat them up and reuse the calcium, others fly away with the eggshells and just drop them at a distance.

Knock sign on the wall

Ground-breeding species such as partridges, lapwings or ducks are particularly endangered in the egg and immediately after hatching. At any moment a fox threatens to pass by and pounce on eggs or hatching young. These species cannot afford to hatch the young one day apart as in many other species. A duck would then have to wait ten days before waddling its brood to the relative safety of the nearest lake. Evolution has developed several tricks here.

The female bird only keeps the first eggs of a brood so warm in the nest that the embryos in them do not die, but they do not develop either. Only when the last egg has been laid does the mother bird incubate intensively so that the young develop immediately. Hatching is also fine-tuned, but now by the chicks - by talking to each other from egg to egg: British researchers found that just before hatching, quail chicks make a specific clicking noise that Siblings in the other eggs are signaled that the big moment has arrived. As in the crime film, in real bird life, the escape from the (egg) cell is also signaled by shouting and knocking on the neighbor's wall. Synchronized hatching only works really well when the eggs are touching. So there must be an acoustic and a tactile communication. This can both speed up and slow down the hatching process in other eggs. It is unclear which chick sets the pace. In experiments, however, researchers found that a chick can delay hatching by up to 24 hours in this way
can accelerate.

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Post by Francesca_V »

Thank you, LIz, this is very interesting!
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Scientific publications related to Black storks (Ciconia Nigra) published in 2022


Flying across Europe: the case of the spread of Chaunocephalus ferox on a black stork (Ciconia nigra)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 November 2022
M. Gonzálvez, C. Muñoz-Hernández, A. Gómez de Ramón, A. Buendía, F. Escribano andC. Martínez-Carrasco
Abstract
The annual migration of birds involves a very large number of inter-continental and intra-continental movements in which thousands of bird species participate. These migrations have been associated with the spread of pathogens worldwide, including bacteria, viruses and parasites. This study describes the case of a black stork (Ciconia nigra) that was ringed at the nest in Latvia and died five months later in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula. Post-mortem examination revealed that the cause of death was electrocution. In addition, a massive infection by the trematode Chaunocephalus ferox (Digenea: Echinostomatidae) causing severe granulomatous lesions throughout the small intestine was detected. This is the first report of C. ferox infection in a black stork in the Iberian Peninsula, a trematode that, due to the severe lesions it causes, can affect the health of C. ferox-infected wild birds, particularly in severely infected long-distance migrants. The dispersal of platyhelminths associated with migratory birds is discussed. After the ringing at the nest, the black stork was sighted in Central Europe one month before its capture, and the trematodes found by necropsy were mostly mature adults. Consequently, we estimate that this juvenile animal acquired the infection during its migration in a European area other than the Iberian Peninsula, evidencing a long-distance parasite spread through its migratory host. Our study highlights that bird ringing can be used to understand the epidemiological implications that bird migratory behaviour may have on the dispersal of parasites.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals ... 21F2E3D67B


The avoidance of living in the vicinity of a top predator:
the coexistence of the black stork and the white-tailed eagle in NE Poland

POLAND
G. ZAWADZKI1, J. ZAWADZKI, S. DROZDOWSKI, & D. ZAWADZKA
Abstract
The black stork Ciconia nigra is a rare species of bird that inhabits old forests near wetlands. The early 21st century has brought a regress of its population in north-eastern Poland. We verified the assumption that an important reason for the observed changes was the colonization of the study area by white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla, because we observed a correlation between decreasing numbers of the black stork and increasing numbers of the eagle. Based on the long-term monitoring, we analyzed changes in the numbers and distribution of the black storks’ nests and compared the colonization of the study area by the white-tailed eagle in the most extensive forest complex in Poland. We found 42 occupied territories of storks and no eagles in 1989 within the study area. In 2019, there were just 23 stork pairs, but the population of eagles increased to 13. We found a correlation between the rate of decline of the black storks population and the increase in the white-tailed eagles. In the first half of study period, storks’ nests have been distributed randomly, after which they became clustered. The pattern of nests distribution was influenced by the increase in the population of the eagle over time, with this ensuring the aggregation of the nests of storks in places more distant from the nests of eagles. Similarly, the nearest neighbor distance of storks’ nests was dependent on distances from the nests of eagles and the shares of territory accounted for by forests. We surmise that changes in the population size of storks were induced mainly by the growth of population of eagles. Storks avoided occupying nests less than 4.6 km from the eagles’ nests. Our study suggests that the determining role can be played by fear of the predator. Overall, it must be concluded that the protection of top predators can affect other co-occurring species in unexpected ways.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10 ... 22.2134478


Black Stork Back: Species distribution model predictions of potential habitats for Black Stork Ciconia nigra in Sweden
SWEDEN
Carl-Gustaf Thulin, Malin Sörhammar & Jonas Bohlin
INCREASED UNDERSTANDING of the need to save endangered and locally extinct species has led to restoration or pres- ervation of populations through reintroductions. Reintroduction of a species is worthwhile if the prerequisites for existence at the historical location have improved. Thus, background information about the habitat requirements of a target species is important for introduction programmes to be successful. The Black Stork Ciconia nigra was lost as a breeding species in Sweden during the 20th century, but recent observations and reports of potential breeding indicate that habitat conditions for Black Stork in Sweden may have improved. In this study, we used species characteristics and references to identify habitats in Sweden suitable for potential reintroduction of Black Stork. We identified several suitable areas in the former distribution range of this species in southern Sweden. Seven Swedish counties contained more than 18% suitable habitat within their total area, with highest proportions in Jönköping County (25.8%), Blekinge County (23.9%), Västra Götaland County (22.1%) and Kronoberg County (20.7%). We suggest these areas to be made the primary targets for Black Stork reintroduction in Sweden.
https://pub.epsilon.slu.se/30030/1/thul ... 230103.pdf


Piesārņojuma ar dzīvsudrabu novērtējums melnajos stārķos (Ciconia nigra) Latvijā
(Assessment of mercury contamination in black storks (Ciconia nigra) in Latvia)
LATVIA
Briķe, Zanda
The Black Stork (Ciconia nigra) is a critically endangered species in Latvia with a high risk of extinction, whose population size has declined sharply in recent years. According to published data, the number of Black Storks has decreased from 750−900 pairs in 1996 to 85−140 pairs per year in 2017. Previous studies in Latvia have found elevated levels of mercury contamination in young Black Stork, the origin of which is unknown. Female birds deposit the contamination in the eggs they lay. It is also excreted in the droppings of black storks, which, if collected at appropriate times of the season, can also provide information on contamination in the young birds. In the framework of this work, an assessment of mercury contamination has been carried out using Black Stork eggshells, embryos, faeces in adult birds and young chicks, as well as atrial samples from young stork chicks. The results show that mercury is present in all groups of samples analysed.
https://dspace.lu.lv/dspace/handle/7/59340


New observations of four waterbird species in Algerian Sahara
ALGERIA
Abdelwahab Chedad, Abdelhakim Bouzid, Djamel Bendjoudi, Omar Guezoul
Abstract
The range mapping and phenological status of four waterbird species was studied in Ghardaïa and El-Ménéa regions between 2017 and 2021. Seasonal waterbird censuses were conducted throughout Ghardaïa and El-Ménéa by individual counts or visual estimation. During these counts, four species were reported for the first time in this region, three passage visitors, European golden plover Pluvialis apricaria, black stork Ciconia nigra and Western Reef Heron Egretta gularis, and one winter stopover, common crane Grus grus. Observations on the species in Ghardaïa and El-Ménéa regions are new for southern Algeria.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs ... /aje.12934
“Clearly, animals know more than we think, and think a great deal more than we know.”
— Irene Pepperberg
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Scientific publications related to Black storks (Ciconia Nigra) published in 2023


A review of the conservation status of Black Stork Ciconia nigra in South Africa, Lesotho, and Eswatini
(SOUTH AFRICA)
Published online by Cambridge University Press, 11 April 2023
Alan Tristram Kenneth Lee, Melissa A. Whitecross, Hanneline A. Smit-Robinson, David G. Alla, Linda van den Heever, Andrew Jenkins, Ernst F. Retief, Robin B. Colyn, Warwick Tarboton, Kishaylin Chetty and Christiaan Willem Brink
Summary
Across South Africa, Lesotho, and Eswatini, long-term citizen science atlas data have suggested concerning declines in the population of Black Stork Ciconia nigra. Unlike the Asian and European populations, the southern African Black Stork population is described as resident and is listed as “Vulnerable” in South Africa, Lesotho, and Eswatini. Here we report on surveys of historical nesting locations across northern South Africa, finding evidence for nest site abandonment and limited evidence of recent breeding. We undertook detailed species distribution modelling within a maximum entropy framework, using occurrence records from the BirdLasser mobile app. We cross-validated the models against information in the Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2) database, highlighting Lesotho as an important potential breeding area. Additionally, we used SABAP2 to assess population trends by investigating interannual patterns in reporting rate. Comparing current reporting rates with those from SABAP1 (1987–1992), we found that there has been a dramatic decrease. We noted that a large proportion of the population occurs outside the breeding range during the breeding season, suggesting a considerable non-breeding population, especially in the extensive wildlife refuge of the Kruger National Park. The slow declines observed might be indicative of a population which is not losing many adults but is failing to recruit significant numbers of juveniles due to limited breeding. Using densities derived from transect surveys, we used predictive models to derive estimates of breeding range carrying capacity and a population estimate, which suggested declines to numbers around 600 for this subregion. Minimising disturbance at breeding sites of this cliff-nesting species and improving water quality at key population strongholds are pathways to improving the status of the species in the subregion.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals ... FFFAAE9696


First Report on a Cliff-Nesting Pair of Black Storks (Ciconia nigra Linnaeus, 1758) and Their Nestlings
(ITALY)
Published: 24 September 2023
Pierangelo Freschi, Carlo Cosentino, Fabio Napolitano, Corrado Pacelli, Danilo Manicone, Egidio Mallia, Marco Ragni, Rosanna Paolino and Ada Braghieri
Abstract
The black stork is an endangered species in many countries, due to its low adaptability to environmental changes and its sensitivity to anthropogenic disturbances. In Italy, the most recent report on the species’ nesting sites lists only 36 pairs, of which 16 are in Basilicata, 7 are in Calabria, 4 are in Piedmont and Molise and 1 is in Campania. This study focuses for the first time on the behavior of a Ciconia nigra pair in the Basilicata region, where the species nests exclusively on cliffs rather than in trees, as is more frequent elsewhere. The video recordings were used to observe the species during the pre- and post-hatching periods and to refer to the 2012 nesting season, as in that year, the video recordings covered the entire reproductive period. In the pre-hatching phase, the activity for which most time is spent is brooding, which lasts on average 43′ in the morning and in evening and more than 49′ at midday. In the post-hatching phase, a large part of the recording period is spent on activities related to parental care. There were no moments of inactivity during this phase, the parents were frequently observed setting up the nest and preening themselves, while they were rarely seen in a huddled position. The alert activity was also very frequent, especially at midday. Our study has shown that the black stork, a shy and cautious species, may return to nest in increasing numbers given the development of the promising Lucanian nucleus, if attention is paid to the habitat quality and feeding areas, where human activities should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/10/1941


Modeling the Wintering Habitat Distribution of the Black Stork in Shaanxi, China:
A Hierarchical Integration of Climate and Land Use/Land Cover Data

(CHINA)
Published: 27 August 2023
Yilamujiang Tuohetahong, Ruyue Lu, Feng Gan, Min Li, Xinping Ye and Xiaoping Yu
Simple Summary
Climate and land use/land cover changes are key factors that significantly impact the distribution of wild species. The black stork, an endangered bird with a high conservation status in China, is particularly vulnerable to these changes due to its long-distance migration. Previous studies have mainly focused on the effect of climate change on the black stork’s breeding season. However, little attention has been given to how its wintering habitats are affected by these factors at different scales. In our study, we evaluated the dynamics of the black stork’s wintering habitat distribution in response to global and regional changes. Our findings indicate that both climate and land use/land cover changes significantly impact the distribution of the wintering black stork. However, the impact of human activities is more pronounced. In order to mitigate the negative effects of human-induced land use/land cover changes on the black stork and other migratory birds, it is crucial to reduce the destruction of wildlife habitats caused by human activities. Additionally, we need to focus on effectively protecting the migratory pathways and wintering sites of these birds, including those that are outside the existing protected areas.
Abstract
Species Distribution Models (SDMs) are effective tools for wildlife conservation and management, as they employ the quantification of habitat suitability and environmental niches to evaluate the patterns of species distribution. The utilization of SDMs at various scales in a hierarchical approach can provide additional and complementary information, significantly improving decision-making in local wildlife conservation initiatives. In this study, we considered the appropriate spatial scale and data resolution to execute species distribution modeling, as these factors greatly influence the modeling procedures. We developed SDMs for wintering black storks at both the regional and local scales. At the regional scale, we used climatic and climate-driven land use/land cover (LULC) variables, along with wintering occurrence points, to develop models for mainland China. At the local scale, we used local environmental variables and locally gathered wintering site data to develop models for Shaanxi province. The predictions from both the regional and local models were then combined at the provincial level by overlapping suitable areas based on climatic and local conditions. We compared and evaluated the resulting predictions using seven statistical metrics. The national models provide information on the appropriate climatic conditions for the black stork during the wintering period throughout China, while the provincial SDMs capture the important local ecological factors that influence the suitability of habitats at a finer scale. As anticipated, the national SDMs predict a larger extent of suitable areas compared to the provincial SDMs. The hierarchical prediction approach is considered trustworthy and, on average, yields better outcomes than non-hierarchical methods. Our findings indicate that human-driven LULC changes have a significant and immediate impact on the wintering habitat of the black stork. However, the effects of climate change seem to be reducing the severity of this impact. The majority of suitable wintering habitats lie outside the boundaries of protected areas, highlighting the need for future conservation and management efforts to prioritize addressing these conservation gaps and focusing on the protection of climate refuges.
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/13/17/2726


Temporal and spatial trends in lead (Pb) levels in the blood and down of Black Stork nestlings in Central Europe
Central Europe
20 November 2023
Katarzyna Kucharska, Łukasz J. Binkowski, Krzysztof Dudzik, James Barker, Stephen Barton, David Rupérez, Andreas Hahn
Abstract
Young birds at an intensive growth stage are especially vulnerable to the deleterious effects of contaminants such as lead (Pb). This element negatively influences organs, development and even behavior, which can consequently lead to lower survival and reproductive success of the population. There was a suspicion that these mechanisms, along with other factors, retarded population growth of the Black Stork - still a heavily understudied species in respect to pollution, especially Pb. Therefore, we undertook a study concerning Pb concentrations in the down and blood of Black Stork nestlings from breeding grounds in central and southern Poland (Europe). To investigate the effects of Pb exposure on nestling condition, scale mass index and reduced glutathione levels were also studied, but results indicated that Pb did not influence either of these parameters. The highest blood Pb concentration reached 0.247 μg/g, while the highest down Pb concentrations was significantly higher reaching 4.95 μg/g. Concentrations in blood and down were not correlated with each other. Nest location and year of sampling were not influential for blood but were influential for down Pb concentrations. Relationships between Pb concentrations, habitat characteristics and proximity to emitters were not significant. Overall Pb concentrations in Black Stork nestlings were below the toxicity threshold and did not have negative effects on specimens studied. They were probably related to maternal exposure during migration, on stopover and breeding grounds as well as with food provided by parents.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 9723043814
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Scientific publications related to Black storks (Ciconia Nigra) published in 2023 continued


Plastic occurrence in nests of a large forest bird
CENTRAL POLAND
September 2023
Bartosz Janic, Jerzy Bańbura, Michał Glądalski, Adam Kaliński, Maciej Kamiński, Lidia Marszał, Dariusz Pieniak, Jarosław Wawrzyniak, Piotr Zieliński

Abstract
The study investigated the presence of waste plastic in fifty-three black stork (Ciconia nigra) nests with nestlings in Central Poland. Although the black stork is typically an old-growth forest species, fourteen nests (26%) contained plastic, predominantly polypropylene string, fragments of polypropylene bags used in agriculture, wrapping foil, fragments of plastic shopping bags, and plastic textiles. The probability of the presence of plastic in nests decreased with the increasing distance of the nest from the forest’s edge. Out of 141 black stork nestlings examined, two nestlings (1.42%) from two different nests were firmly entangled with plastic strings around their legs. The relatively high percentage (26%) of black stork nests with plastic indicates pollution of local habitats with plastic and possibly a negative anthropogenic impact on old-growth forests in Central Poland. In our study area, this impact could be a result of both high forest fragmentation and heavy human activity in forests.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 0X2300612X


Conservation of birds in an urban environment – wild bird fauna at the Osijek Zoo, Croatia
CROATIA, 2023
D. Bjedov, B. Žižanović, M. Vitman, A. Rakitić, T. Šalika-Todorović, M. Sudarić Bogojević, M. Kovačić and A. Mikuška
Abstract
Zoos are our closest, independent, and continuous link to nature. Apart from providing the opportunity to observe captive and exotic wild animals, they also attract various species of wild birds. For that purpose, the main goal of this study was to provide a list of free-living bird species at the Osijek Zoo. During 2021, fieldwork was performed monthly using a point count transect, except during the breeding season when counts were performed twice a month. A total of 61 species were recorded, belonging to 31 families distributed in 15 orders. The most frequently recorded species were Hooded crow, Corvus cornix and Great tit, Parus major. Five species observed at the Osijek Zoo are listed as endangered species in the Red Book of Birds of Croatia: critically endangered: European roller, Coracias garrulus; endangered: Great egret, Ardea alba and Western marsh harrier, Circus aeruginosus; vulnerable: Little egret, Egretta garzetta and Black stork, Ciconia nigra. It appears that the Osijek Zoo provides a good foundation for a high diversity of bird fauna, indicating that this is a good quality urban area. The Osijek Zoo should also strive to preserve this abundant avifauna, by educating the public on conservation, and forbidding any potentially disturbing behaviours.
https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/421792


The state of stork research globally:
A systematic review

April 2023
Jonah Gula, K.S. Gopi Sundar, Sandi Willows-Munro, Colleen T. Downs
Abstract
Storks are a conspicuous pan-global freshwater flagship taxon with 20 extant species, all of which have been accorded IUCN Red List status. Red List assessments use a combination of scientific evidence and expert inputs to develop species-level status, but there is little careful evaluation of whether these assessments are comparable across species. Using standard literature databases, we compiled and analysed patterns of research in peer-reviewed literature for all 20 stork species. Our search yielded 989 publications between 1950 and 2022, showing bias in both the coverage of species (66 % covered three stork species) and geographical locations (53.8 % from Europe and the United States of America) despite the highest stork species richness being present in Africa and Asia. Publications on storks, especially from Asia, have increased over time, with 81 % of all studies published since 2000. Most stork research focused on breeding ecology, but was skewed toward only three species. Growing research in Asia showed significant populations of several stork species amid farmlands, suggesting the need to advance similar research in anthropogenically modified landscapes elsewhere. The population and behaviour ecologies of 15 (75 %) stork species remain unstudied. Our review showed scientific evidence varying enormously across stork species, with sparse scientific understanding being the norm. Red List statuses must be made more robust for storks, especially highlighting data-deficient species to help prioritize conservation research, particularly in Africa and Asia, thereby facilitating the development of accurate status assessments for these species.

Image
The 20 species of storks in the family Ciconiidae, each with their IUCN Red List status (LC = Least Concern, NT = Near Threatened, VU=Vulnerable, EN = Endangered), geographic range (source: IUCN/BirdLife International), number of publications identified in the literature search from 1950 to 2022, and a pie chart showing the proportion of publications on six broad study topics (colour legend at bottom). Illustrations used with permission from Birds of the World (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
© https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 0723000691
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Birds of Kanetiya area - inventory, notable sightings, and overview of seasonal changes in reporting frequency of bird species in an unprotected area of Himachal Pradesh, India
INDIA
Published: Jul 27, 2023
Samakshi Tiwari
Abstract
Biodiversity of unprotected areas in the western Himalayan region is under threat. Despite this, it is poorly studied and documented. The citizen science platform eBird was used to record bird species of the unprotected Kanetiya area (Darbhog panchayat), Shimla, Himachal Pradesh from August 2019–2020. Reporting frequency using this data was calculated to represent an index of species abundance. This was calculated independently for each species across three seasons and reported as a metric that can be tracked over time. One-hundred-and-twenty-four (20% of the species from Himachal Pradesh) species of birds belonging to 13 orders and 43 families were recorded. Of these, 37 (30%) were recorded year-round and the remaining 87% (80%) were migratory. The checklist consisted of five species of high conservation concern and 22 species of moderate conservation concern. This checklist also provides insights into the distributions of some species whose ranges within India are not yet well defined (Northern Long-eared Owl Asio otus, Aberrant Bush Warbler Horornis flavolivaceus, Himalayan Owl Strix nivicolum) and into migration through this part of the Himalaya (Black Stork Ciconia nigra). Locals can be educated to upload short checklists for monitoring since they have helped the local forest department’s conservation efforts.
http://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoT ... /view/7520


Utilisation du territoire par la cigogne noir (Ciconia nigra) et caractérisation des aires de nourrissage au sein du massif de St-Michel Freyr
(Use of territory by the Black stork (Ciconia nigra) and characterisation of feeding areas in the St-Michel Freyr massif)
BELGIUM
Bestgen Bastien - master paper bio-engineer, 2022-2023 (in French)
Abstract
The black stork (Ciconia nigra) officially returned to Belgium in 1989, and since then its population has continued to grow. However, its ecological needs are still poorly documented, even though land-use planning could help it to host it in Wallonia. This study aims to characterise the territory and the way in which the species uses it. The improvement and establishment of habitats selected by the species will be used to draw up land management proposals, particularly with a view to the development and connectivity of environments. In addition to its singularity, the species acts as an umbrella species, because of the quality and diversity of its habitats. Its preservation therefore benefits many other, more tolerant species.
This study carried out on the Saint-Michel Freyr forest site showed that:
Firstly, the average home range of a mature adult estimated by the MCP95 is 206 km2, whereas for the kernel95 it is equivalent to 67 km2 and the core area estimated by the kernel50 is only 5.5 km2.
Secondly, the density of the pond network, the early presence of amphibians and the distance from the ponds to the nest are, within a catchment area to which the bird remains faithful, the dominant factors in the selectivity of water bodies.
Thirdly, the water system provides the dominant biomass component of the bird's diet, especially when the young birds' appetite increases. Birds select river stretches with low gradient and low flow, offering a fishing ground, pastures, deciduous forests, open or rural environments, close to forests. Conversely, they avoid bare ground, softwood stands and annual crops.
Finally, feeding behaviour is guided more by easy access to large biomass in high-quality environments. Nesting, on the other hand, requires peace and quiet and dense forest stands.
https://matheo.uliege.be/bitstream/2268 ... astien.pdf


DATA CORRELATION OF MERCURY IN EGGSHELLS AND EGGSHELL MEMBRANES OF WILD BIRDS
LATVIA, May 2023
Anda Abola, Antonija Rimsa, Maris Strazds, Rita Veilande, Gita Revalde
Abstract. Wild birds are common study subjects as agents of mercury pollution, in particular predominantly fish-eating birds that are at risk for high mercury intake. The Black Stork is one such species in Latvia. Its conservation status is very unfavourable; by the IUCN criteria, it is considered to be critically endangered. Our data encompasses several species of wild birds; however, the bulk of data consists of black stork eggshells. If the target species is endangered, it is highly desirable to reduce the impact caused by the data collection itself. The collection of eggshell remains under nests is one such non-invasive method. Black storks often drop hatched eggshells and the remains of eggs out of their nests. The downside of this method is the fact that one cannot choose a preferable type of artefact to be collected, only what is there. Eggshell remains under nests vary greatly both in size and condition from almost complete eggs to tiny scratches of eggshell. We used an atomic absorption spectrometer with Zeeman correction LUMEX RA-915M paired with its attachment for pyrolytic analysis PYRO- 915+ to detect total mercury concentration in our samples. Pyrolytic combustion enables direct measurements without special pre-treatment steps, minimizing sample contamination risk and offering nearly immediate results. To assess our data, we did a statistical analysis using R version 4.2.1. We have previously observed that eggshell membranes contain higher levels of mercury than eggshells themselves. Here we check whether the amount of mercury found in various types of artefacts correlates, using 320 pairs of data for black storks for which both separate measurements were possible. Our data show that the correlation between the two is significant. In addition, we discuss the correlation between eggshells with attached membranes and membranes themselves, as well as between eggshells and eggshells with attached membranes.
https://www.tf.lbtu.lv/conference/proce ... /TF071.pdf
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Ten Principles for Bird-Friendly Forestry:
Conservation Approaches in Natural Forests Used for Timber Production

LATVIA
Published: 16 June 2023
Nico Arcilla and Māris Strazds
Simple Summary:
Most of the world’s natural forests are subject to logging operations, many of which are highly detrimental to forest birds and other wildlife. Considerable scientific research has investigated approaches in sustainable forest management, which strives to mitigate forest degradation and wildlife loss in forests subject to logging operations and is fostered through conservation legislation and incentives in many areas. We reviewed relevant research to synthesize 10 principles that support bird conservation in forests subject to logging operations: (1) protect and enhance vertical structure through uneven-aged silviculture; (2) leave abundant dead wood in different decay stages; (3) maintain residual large green trees; (4) create and maintain sufficient amounts of uncut reserves and corridors; (5) maximize forest interior and minimize fragmentation by retaining large contiguous forest tracts; (6) maintain buffers along streams, rivers, wetlands, and known nesting areas; (7) maintain horizontal stand structure and vegetation diversity through canopy gaps; (8) extend the temporal scale of logging cycles; (9) minimize post-logging disturbance to forests, particularly during the bird breeding season; and (10) manage for focal species and guilds. Foresters can customize these principles in management plans to improve the bird conservation value of production forests, setting quantitative objectives to be measured using bird monitoring data.
Abstract:
Bird–forestry relationships have been the subject of research and conservation initiatives for decades, but there are few reviews of resulting recommendations for use by forest managers. We define “bird-friendly forestry” as forest management that applies recommendations from research seeking to reconcile logging with bird conservation in natural forests used for timber production. We reviewed relevant studies to synthesize 10 principles of bird-friendly forestry:
(1) protect and enhance vertical structure through uneven-aged silviculture;
(2) leave abundant dead wood in different decay stages;
(3) maintain residual large green trees;
(4) create and maintain sufficient amounts of uncut reserves and corridors;
(5) maximise forest interior by retaining large contiguous forest tracts in landscapes with sufficient functional connectivity;
(6) maintain buffers along streams, rivers, and wetlands cultural and urban landscapes;
(7) maintain horizontal stand structure and enhance vegetation diversity by creating canopy gaps;
(8) extend the temporal scale of logging cycles;
(9) minimise post-logging disturbance to forests, particularly during the bird breeding season;
(10) manage for focal species and guilds.

These principles may serve as guidelines in developing bird-friendly management plans customized for regional priority species, with a clearly articulated vision and quantitative objectives through which success can be measured.
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-6004/4/2/21


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Conservation Conversations: The Status of SA's Black Storks - Dr Melissa Whitecross (26Jul22)

BirdLife South Africa

The Black Stork Ciconia nigra is a large, piscivorous bird reliant on healthy water bodies and seasonal ephemeral pans to forage and survive. Unlike the migratory, tree-nesting Asian and European populations, the southern Africa Black Stork population is described as a resident, cliff-nesting bird and is listed as Vulnerable to extinction. Across South Africa, citizen science records suggest concerning declines in the population of Black Stork since the mid-1900s. This webinar will report on surveys of historical nesting strongholds, including the Luvhuvhu and Mutale Rivers of northern Kruger National Park, with evidence for nest site abandonment and limited evidence of recent breeding. We also present a detailed species distribution modelling exercise of occurrence records reported through the BirdLasser application using MaxEnt with cross-validation against information in the Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2) database. We also assess future predicted distributions of this species in Kruger based on available climate models. To assess population trends, particularly across the national park network, we examined the SABAP2 database for interannual patterns in reporting rate and compare current reporting rates to those from SABAP1. The probability of reporting is stable for the SABAP2 period (2007-2020), albeit that there is a dramatic decrease in the areas from where Black Storks are reported currently, compared to the SABAP1 period (1987 – 1992). Minimising disturbance and improving water quality at key population strongholds are pathways to improving the status of the species in the subregion.

Join Dr Melissa Whitecross as she shares the BirdLife South Africa team's work to better understand these elusive wetland birds.

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𝙁𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙢 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙠 (𝘾𝙞𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙖 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙧𝙖)
L. S. Cano-AlonsoORCID Icon,U. SellisORCID Icon,E. A. TamásORCID Icon,B. Kalocsa,B. JanicORCID Icon,D. Pieniak,I. Carbonell,A. Torés &P. Zieliński:

Pages 245-251 | Received 11 Oct 2023, Accepted 28 Jan 2024, Published online: 21 Feb 2024
Filial and sibling cannibalism have never been documented in Black Storks (Ciconia nigra). We gathered information on 34 breeding events in 10 Black Stork nests from Estonia (three nests), Hungary (two nests), Poland (two nests) and Spain (three nests) being monitored with camera surveillance, live streaming webcams or intensive monitoring control of nests. Overall, we recorded 16 cases of filial infanticide and two cases where the nestlings died by natural causes and were later cannibalized by either their siblings or their parents. Four nestlings were killed by their parents without any attempt of cannibalism. In the remaining 12 cases of infanticide (66.7% of the total losses), 8 nestlings were consumed by one of the parents while in 4 cases the parents were not able to swallow the previously killed nestlings. All victimised nestlings were the youngest, weakest or smallest in their brood. Eight of 14 cases were identified as being associated with environmental stress or an exceptional matter during the breeding season. In at least five cases, one of the mates was new to the nest. Females committing filial infanticide swallowed or tried to swallow the chicks in five out of nine episodes where the parent’s sex was known.......
Image

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10 ... 24.2314625
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