In my last post I informed you about the unfortunate loss of stork nests in the northern Everglades; only 10 of the 600 nests initiated in February had survived! Well, today I visited the wood stork colonies again and was surprised to find that 10 nests had increased to about 300. Most of these new nests have an adult incubating or standing above newly laid eggs (see photo below), and given the timing they are probably a second nesting attempt by the birds that failed a month or so ago. This re-nesting is likely a response to the recent drop in water levels in the marsh and the resulting much improved feeding conditions for the birds. However, as explained in my previous post, the breeding season is rapidly drawing to a close so these nests will need the summer rains to arrive late by at least a month if they are to be successful (the chicks need time to grow and fledge before the feeding areas become flooded).

Wood storks standing over recently laid eggs in western WCA-3A

I also noted in my last post that the few surviving nestlings in the remaining 10 nests were rather malnourished and would be lucky if they lasted more than a few days. Well, for the most part they were lucky. Most of these nestlings have survived and appear to have regained their health and weight (see the yellow billed nestlings in the photo below). It seems that foraging conditions in the Everglades rebounded just in time for this small handful of surviving chicks to make it. These nestlings are old enough that they should fledge before the rainy season arrives, which means that at least some storks should fledge this year even if the rains aren’t late.

Update from the Everglades: April 7, 2014