In Australia, this species is also called the Jabiru, although that name is not an Aboriginal name. Jabiru means “blown out with the wind” which relates to an inflatable neck bladder of the rare South American stork also called a Jabiru.
The Black-necked Stork is a tall long-necked wading bird in the stork family. It is a resident species across South and Southeast Asia with a disjunct population in Australia. It lives in wetland habitats to forage for a wide range of animal prey, commonly using its long bill to spear fish.
Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus is a large bird, 130–150cm tall having a 230cm wingspan. The average weight is around 4100grams. It is a carnivore, eating small birds, aquatic vertebrates and invertebrates such as crabs and molluscs. It is one of the few storks that is strongly territorial when feeding.
The largest population of this species occurs in Australia, where it is found from the Ashburton River, near Onslow, Western Australia across northern Australia to north-east New South Wales. It extends inland in the Kimberley area to south of Halls Creek; in the Northern Territory to Hooker Creek and Daly Waters; and in Queensland inland to the Boulia area and the New South Wales border, with some records as far south as the north-west plains of New South Wales, along the coast of Sydney and formerly bred near the Shoalvahen River.
This large stork has a dance-like mating display. A pair stalk up to each other face to face, extending their wings and fluttering the wing tips rapidly and advancing their heads until the meet. They then clatter their bills and walk away. The display lasts for a minute and may be repeated several times.
These birds nest in large and isolated trees on which they build a platform. The nest is large, as much as 3 to 6 feet across and made up of sticks, branches and lined with rushes, water-plants and sometimes with a mud plaster on the edges. Nests may be reused year after year.
Like other storks, they are very silent except at nest where they make bill-clattering sounds. The sounds produced are of a low-pitch and resonant and ends with a short sigh.
[All text: Ref (83)]
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