Doing behavioral research with a unique species like the shoebill stork has been an extremely rewarding experience. My summer internship began with simply observing a wild-born pair to compile a list of all their behaviors (see Sara's blog, Understanding Shoebills). Using this information, I began a research project inside the Wild Animal Park with three hand-reared shoebills on social interactions between a male and two females. Initially, one female was isolated from the other two, but access throughout the enclosure was allowed once my observations began. This would permit the isolated female to leave her island, join the male and other female, and hopefully facilitate social interactions. The reason for looking at these possible interactions was prompted by the fact that no shoebill stork has reproduced in captivity. The Park's Bird Department and CRES researchers have been baffled by this and hoped to gain more information on the breeding behavior of this species.

I mentioned the prominent behavior, bill clattering, in my previous blog (Shoebill Chatter). This greeting behavior was exhibited by all three birds. Although the male bill clatters more frequently, they all perform this behavior for about the same amount of time, on average 3 to 4 seconds. I also looked at where each bird spent the most amount of time. When you visit the Park's Mombasa Lagoon, you will notice there are three islands that make up the shoebill enclosure. During my observation sessions, I recorded their location using a map of the lagoon. It turns out that each bird has a preferred area of the enclosure where they spend most of their time. As they are naturally solitary animals, each bird is situated on a different island than the others! The shoebill storks rarely come into close proximity with another bird, and this information is valuable for studying social interactions.

Although the breeding behavior of captive shoebill storks still remains a mystery, any research that looks at social interactions provides valuable information that can be used towards understanding reproduction. Hopefully, my research will prompt future studies that will further investigate this unique species. And if you spend enough time watching the shoebills, you might be able to see them lift their beaks skyward and clatter their bills.

Sara Skillman finished her Summer Fellowship with the Behavioral Biology Division of CRES.

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