Food of nestling Wood Storks in coastal Georgia

Types of prey consumed by endangered Wood Stork (Myeteria americana) in coa stal habitats have received little study. We documented prey items fed to s tork nestlings in two coastal and two inland colonies in Georgia in 1995. F ish from brackish/saltwater habitats dominated the coastal the regurgitatio n samples, making up 65-93% of individual prey items and 49-74% of prey bio mass collected, Mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus) were the most common sin gle prey item found in the coastal samples. Inter-colony differences in the remaining coastal prey species were presumably due to differences in forag ing habitat type (freshwater vs. saltwater) and their proximity to each col ony. Prey from saltwater habitats were significantly shelter and weighed le ss than prey from freshwater habitats. Freshwater prey items fed to nestlin gs in all foul colonies were reasonably similar; containing varying percent ages (frequency and biomass) of redfin pickerel (Esox americanus), bullhea d (Ameiurus spp.) and sunfish (Centrarchidae).