BBC: Shoebill Stork Introduction
Posted at 2:59 pm June 4, 2007 by Joy DiGentiPart 1 in a series about the Bird Breeding Complex (BBC) at the Wild Animal Park.
Here at the Wild Animal Park, several hundred birds live off-exhibit in our secured and monitored Bird Breeding Complex (BBC). Most of them are in breeding pairs, and some are in holding (usually sharing pens with other birds) for shipments to other institutions. BBC is divided into three areas, or “strings.” As a relief keeper, I have had the opportunity to help all of the string keepers here and learn about the birds in each area. I’ll start with BBC I.
This string includes a large flight enclosure we call “BBC-G” where the shoebill storks Balaeniceps rex live. A new female shoebill was cleared from quarantine at the Park’s Harter Veterinary Medical Center in March. We transported her in a large wooden crate and released her into her new home with the male shoebill, a Hadada ibis Bostrychia hagedash nilotica and two black herons Egretta ardesiaca. There are three ponds and lots of tall reeds in the enclosure, and she seemed excited (to me) to see all of the foliage and space to explore.
It wasn’t long before the two shoebills noticed each other and, not surprisingly, the male chased her around a bit. With the help of a volunteer, Judith, we kept watch over the pair from the observation tower and camera mounted in the pen from dawn to dusk for the rest of the week. Over the following few days it was encouraging to see that in some situations when the male chased the female she would not move too far away and they would sometimes stand within 15 feet of each other, preening, for 30 minutes at a time. There was a point when we felt the male was too aggressive with her, so we continued making regular observations for another week or so. And so far so good!
Joy DiGenti is an administrative assistant in the Wild Animal Park’s Bird Department. She is currently on loan as a keeper.
Look for Joy’s next blog, BBC: Bird of Paradise and Kingfisher Chicks.
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June 4th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Let’s hope!!! They are amazingly interesting birds, and it would be such a thrill and triumph if they should breed successfully. Please keep us up to date on them. I’m looking forward to the next blogs!
June 5th, 2007 at 11:57 am
Thanks, Joy, for telling us about the Shoebill Stork introduction. Sounds like the female and male will ” work things out” and hopefully breed in the future. What excitement that will bring.