Have you seen this rare local visitor to the area? The 'Jabiru' is a tall, easily recognised bird. The head and neck are an iridescent shimmering green and purple. The body is all white, and the wings white with a broad black stripe. Their long legs are a deep pink or red colour. They have slow deliberate movements as they stalk the shallows, with sudden spearing jabs of the large black bill or quick dashes with flapping wings as they hunt.
Their diet is quite varied and the prey includes, small fish, frogs, eels, turtles, small crabs and some aquatic snakes.
Although they prefer the freshwater environment (such as billabongs, swamps, shallow flood waters, wet heathlands, sewerage farms, dams and nearby grassland or woodland), they can also be found on the inter-tidal shorelines, margins of mangroves, mudflats and estuaries in and around the Tin Can Bay inlet and Snapper Creek.
Weeding and mulching garden beds Crab Creek.
Black
- necked Stork
(Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus)
The bird's flight often looks ponderous and ungainly, but they can be seen using the thermals to soar to great heights. Breeding occurs usually from March to June, and each pair builds a solitary nest. Adults are thought to maintain their pair bond for successive years, perhaps for life.
Like many of our native birds and animals, the Stork is feeling the pinch with habitat loss and pressure by humans. So if you see one of these magnificent and stately birds, consider yourself lucky and try not to disturb it too much.