Wood stork nesting pairs on rise

But some biologists are worried about a lag in the number of births per net of North America's only stork.

DAYTONA BEACH - Wildlife officials are encouraged by an increase in the number of federally protected wood storks counted in the southeastern United States, but a lag in the number of births per nest is concerning some biologists.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service monitors the recovery plan for North America's only stork. With snow-white waders, elongated black bills and scaly gray heads, wood storks once graced the Everglades in large colonies, and officials said there were more than 20,000 nesting pairs in the 1930s.

But populations dropped as the water flow in the Everglades changed due to pollution and development, and the birds looked for new nesting areas in north Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

By the early 1980s, fewer than 5,000 nesting pairs remained. Wood storks became an endangered species in 1984.

In Florida this year, observers counted more than 6,000 nesting pairs of wood storks, and the number of nesting pairs in the southeastern United States is nearing 9,000, the wildlife service said.

The goal in the recovery plan is an average of 6,000 nesting pairs over a three-year period, so that criterion probably is being met, said Bill Brooks, a biologist with the wildlife service.

The second criterion in the recovery plan is the productivity of the species - how many birds are born each year. Those numbers are not so encouraging.

The nesting success varies widely across Florida, ranging from 0.12 chicks per nest to a high of 2.2. Biologists need a three-year average of about 1.5, Brooks said.

One of the areas where they still see problems is southeast Florida, where the metropolitan areas of Miami and Fort Lauderdale have encroached on Everglades swampland, Brooks said.

"We're still seeing a lot of nest failures," Brooks said. "They're trying to nest later than they used to."

Brooks said the $8.4-billion plan to restore the Everglades could help restore some of the natural flow of water in the River of Grass and bolster the wood stork population.

In July, the nation's largest wood stork breeding preserve - Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in southwest Florida - reported a more than 75 percent drop in fledglings from a year ago. The preserve reported 2,400 nests producing at least one bird in 2002, but only had 462 successful nests this year.

Although the numbers were down from 2002, they were near average for the last 10 years.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright