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Animalia >Chordata >Aves >Ciconiiformes >Ciconiidae >Ciconia >

A single individual of the oriental white stork flew to Fukui City on April 6, 2005, for the first time in the past 19 years. Although the oriental white stork occasionally flies to Japan from the continent, no records of natural breeding within Japan exist for this species between 1971 and 2005. This video picture was taken in the afternoon of the April 9th.

The stork that had flown to the city was feeding around rice fields and channels, which contained some water. What the stork was feeding on was not apparent; however, the Red-swamp crayfish and other aquatic organisms were found when the bottoms of the fields and channels were scooped with a net.

The oriental white stork is a large bird, much larger than a gray heron, and probably has large food requirement. During the observation, the stork spent most of its time feeding.

The video was taken at a place along a road with low traffic; however, the stork stopped feeding and became alert whenever a car went by.

These observations suggest that suitable habitats for the oriental white stork should contain well-irrigated, food-providing rice fields, should be away from the noise-producing heavy traffic, and should be close to forests where storks can roost. The traditional rural landscapes in Japan, Satoyama, meet these conditions.

This stork was seen in the same area till around April 23rd, but has not seen since within Fukui City, suggesting that it might have moved to another place.

(By Osamu Ishida, Curator, Fukui City Natural History Museum)

(translated by Asoh)

(Data No.momo050714cb01b)

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