Jabiru Stork Facts | Brazil Wildlife Guide
The jabiru stork holds the title for largest flying bird in the Americas. It grows 4 to 5 feet tall and has a wingspan of 9 to 12 feet. Breeding storks enjoy the marshlands available in the Pantanal region.
Building nests is a major construction job. The brooding nest is generally built on a high tree in an open area above the rainforest. The cumbersome birds weave a platform from large branches measuring as much as 10 feet across. The hatchlings (two to four) are an indiscriminate gray color that eventually changes into the adult coloration of a black beak, white body, and black head, with a bright red band below the neck.
Occasionally seen in farmers’ fields, from a distance these storks look like bent-over old men wearing red neckties. The birds feed in and around swamps and ponds, preferring snails, frogs, small mammals, fish and especially reptiles.
Header Credit: John Tann [CC BY 2.0], via Flickr
