Jabiru

Taxonomy

Hinrich Lichtenstein described the jabiru in 1819. The name jabiru has also been used for two other birds of a distinct genus: black-necked stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus), commonly called "jabiru" in Australia; and sometimes also for the saddle-billed stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis) of Sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, Gardiner's Egyptian hieroglyph G29, believed to depict an E. senegalensis, is sometimes labeled "jabiru" in hieroglyph lists. The Ephippiorhynchus is believed to be the jabiru's closest living cousin, indicating an Old World origin for the species.

The proposed Late Pleistocene fossil stork genus Prociconia from Brazil might actually belong in Jabiru. A fossil species of jabiru was found in the early Pliocene Codore Formation near Urumaco, Venezuela, and named Jabiru codorensis.

In Brazil, this species is called tuiuiu, tuim-de-papo-vermelho ("red-necked tuim", in Mato Grosso) and cauauá (in the Amazon Basin). The name jabiru is used for the wood stork (Mycteria americana).

Description

The jabiru is the tallest flying bird found in South America and Central America, often standing nearly the same height as the flightless and thus much heavier greater rhea. For the continent, it also has the second largest wingspan, after the Andean condor (that is, excluding the great albatross occasionally found off the coast of southern South America). Large males may stand as tall as 1.53 m. The beak, which measures 25 -, is black and broad, slightly upturned, ending in a sharp point. Among other standard measurements, the tail measures 20 -, the tarsus measures 28.5 - long and the wing chord measures 58.5 -. The sexes are similar in appearance but the male is larger, which can be noticeable when the sexes are together. While it can give the impression of being an ungainly bird on the ground, the jabiru is a powerful and graceful flier.

Life history

Food and feeding habits

The jabiru lives in large groups near rivers and ponds and eats prodigious quantities of frogs, fish, snakes, snails, insects, and other invertebrates. It will even eat fresh carrion and dead fish, such as those that die during dry spells, and thus help maintain the quality of isolated bodies of water. They feed in flocks and usually forage by wading in shallow water. Jabirus detect prey more through tactile sensation than vision. They feed by holding their open bill at a 45-degree angle to the water. When prey is contacted, the storks close their bill, draw it out of the water, and throw their head back to swallow. Fish around 8 to are typically taken, though larger fish weighing up to at least 500 g and eels up to 80 cm can be taken. It is an opportunistic feeder. In one instance, when house mice experienced a population explosion in an agricultural area, several hundred jabirus could be seen in each field feeding on the rodents (unusual for a bird that's rarely seen in large numbers anywhere). On rare occasions, jabirus have been seen attempting to kleptoparasitize the two smaller storks it co-exists with, the wood and maguari storks.

Breeding

Jabirus are solitary nesters, building massive nest platforms that are used repeatedly in successive seasons. Unlike many other storks, these species are often seen in pairs in the nonbreeding season, suggesting a lifelong pair bond. The nest of sticks is built by both parents around August–September (in the Southern Hemisphere) on tall trees, and enlarged at each succeeding season, growing to several meters in diameter. Nests are often deeper than they are wide; they can be up to 1 m wide and 1.8 m deep.

Conservation

Jabirus are widespread but not abundant in any area. They are considered a species of least concern by the IUCN, an improvement from a status of near threatened in 1988. Jabiru gained protected status in Belize in 1973. Since then, their numbers in that area have slowly risen. They have been granted protected status by the U.S. Migratory Bird Act.

Gallery

File:033 Jabiru taking off in Encontro das Águas State Park Photo by Giles Laurent.jpg|Jabiru taking off in the Pantanal, Brazil File:178 Jabiru in flight in Encontro das Águas State Park Photo by Giles Laurent.jpg|Jabiru in flight in the Pantanal, Brazil File:049 Jabiru chick in its nest in Encontro das Águas State Park Photo by Giles Laurent.jpg|Jabiru chick in the Pantanal, Brazil File:Jabirus (Jabiru mycteria) on nest.JPG|Pair on nest, in the Pantanal, Brazil File:Jabiru (Jabiru mycteria) in flight.JPG|In flight over the Pantanal, Brazil File:Jabiru (Jabiru mycteria) 2.JPG|In the Pantanal, Brazil

References

References

1. BirdLife International. (2021). "''Jabiru mycteria''".
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4. (2014). "Rare Birds of North America". Princeton University Press.
5. (2015). "Wildlife of the World". Dorling Kindersley Ltd.
6. Hancock & Kushan, ''Storks, Ibises and Spoonbills of the World''. Princeton University Press (1992), {{ISBN. 978-0-12-322730-0
7. The adult jabiru is {{convert. 120. –. 140. cm. in. 2.3. –. 2.8. m. ft. 4.3. -. 9. kg. lb. 6.89. kg. lb. 5.22. kg. lb. 978-1-4200-6444-5.
8. (1971). "Observations on the Jabiru and Maguari storks in Argentina, 1969". The Condor.
9. [http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Jabiru_mycteria.html ADW- Jabiru mycteria- Information] (2011).
10. (1985). "Coexistence and behavior differences among the three western hemisphere storks". Ornithological Monographs.
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12. (1973). "Comparative ethology of the Ciconiidae. Part 6. The blacknecked, saddlebill, and jabiru storks (genera ''Xenorhynchus'', ''Ephippiorhynchus'', and ''Jabiru'')". The Condor.
13. (2019). "Comparative Chromosome Painting in Two Brazilian Stork Species with Different Diploid Numbers". Cytogenetic and Genome Research.