Another endangered species sighting - Jabiru aka "Black-necked stork"

Jabiru, aka "Black-necked stork" near Maitland NSW 25th May 2017

It's been a while since I have posted, and that is because I tend to make observations about the unusual - rather than the every day.  Can you image how boring it would be to read some variation of "today I saw twenty eight Ring-necked turtle doves, forty one Sulphur crested cockatoos, fifty seven Indian miners, two European starlings, twelve Noisy miners, five Crested pigeons, seven Wood ducks, a Silver gull and three million Corellas . . . ." day after day after day.  Yawn. 

Well, here's something to get you excited !  On my way to work this morning I observed a (probably male) Jabiru.  This is an interesting sighting, because it's the first time I have ever seen a totally wild Jabiru in the Hunter Valley, and I was fortunate enough to have my camera with me at the time.  I believe the bird is male because the initial sighting was at 200 metres range, and through my camera his eye appeared brown, not the obvious bright yellow of the female.    

The Jabiru is secure in Australia - in fact when I lived in Darwin they were a pretty common sight on the flood plains.  However the further south you go, the progressively less common this species becomes.  Thus it is NOT listed under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), but it IS listed as Endangered under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995.  

    

Jabiru being harassed by a Black-shouldered kite, near Maitland NSW.  

I have driven the back roads on my way to work as much as I possibly can to avoid the traffic, and because I love the unusual things you see in the out of the way places.  A few years back I saw Freckled ducks.  A few months ago I found a Peregrine falcon on the road, surrounded by unmistakable pink-coloured Galah feathers, just killed by a car ahead of me.  And now on one of my trips along the back roads, I have observed my first wild Jabiru in NSW.  Fantastic stuff !  If you look closely at the photos you will see the Jabiru was being shadowed by a Black-shouldered kite, a small elegant hawk.  The Kite shadowed the Jabiru at a respectful distance, never getting too close, but letting the larger bird know it was trespassing.  In the background you can see exactly WHY the Jabiru is now considered endangered in NSW - new McMansions built up right to the very edge of the flood plains the Jabiru requires to forage and breed.  From my time in the NT, it appears that Jabirus do not seem to like associating near humans - and they tended not to breed anywhere near humans.

If you'd like to know a bit more about them, have a look at these pages;

1. Black-necked stork - endangered species listing

2. Black-necked Stork - Hunter-Central Rivers: Distribution and vegetation associations

     

A bit of an aside - I call this species "Jabiru" for the same reason I call Blue wrens, Blue wrens and not "Blue fairy-wrens".  Simply because I have never met a normal person call a Blue wren a "Fairy-wren".  The birdos claim the Jabiru should be called "Black-necked stork", (or abbreviated to BNS) because its the only species of true stork found in Australia.  This is true that Jabirus are Australia's only stork, but the only people I have ever known to call this species a "BNS" are birdos, or "twitchers" as they like to call themselves.  

BNS is a stupid "common name" in my humble opinion because only twitchers use it and when you look at a Jabiru, their neck is the most impossibly glorious metallic blue-green you have ever seen in your life.  They shimmer like a vision in the sun!  The only time their neck is black is from great distance, or if it's very poor light.  Jabiru it shall always be for me.