224

Figure 52. The 36 sites and the number of birds seen at

each site on each date are given in Appendix Table A-8.

The number of birds seen on each flight, with estimated

number of hours of flight, number of miles covered, number

of Wood Storks per hour, and number of Wood Storks per mile

is given in Appendix Table A-9.

 The map in Figure 53 shows observed feeding areas and

nesting sites of Wood Storks and other wading birds in the

study area. Corkscrew was the only nesting site of the

Wood Storks. The Okaloacoochee slough and Corkscrew marsh

were used extensively by Wood Storks almost throughout the

breeding season. Intensive use by the storks was made of

the Big Cypress in March and the Fahkahatchee strand in

April. During late April and throughout May, when the rest

of the southwest Florida area had dried, the Wood Storks

depended heavily on the marshes bordering Lake Okeechobee.

Important feeding areas of Wood Storks and other wading

birds are listed according to the county in which they

occur in Table 25.

 The Wood Storks followed the dry-down in the southwest

Florida region, feeding in upland ponds at the beginning of

the dry season and in lowland ponds in the latter part of

the season. When the ponds of one area dried completely

the birds moved to another area where the dry-down was

still in progress and thereby utilized and benefited from

both temporal and spatial variations in water levels. The

sequence generally followed the primary slope of the land