Jonah Gula is a graduate student at Texas State University doing research on the African Saddlebill Stork. We talk about his work with African storks, his birding story and adventures, and his other field research work. I grew up in Maine near where Jonah attended Unity College, and it was good to hear his story of work there on black bears with my niece’s husband Kendall Marden.
We talk about predation of Greater Sage Grouse by raptors that are likely predated by Swainson’s Hawks. I was surprised. I checked on Birds of the World, and male Greater-sage Grouse can weight from 1.9-3.1 kg lbs, with females weighing from 900 – 1800 grams. Swainson’s Hawks weigh from 700-1300 grams. So the Swainson’s Hawks can weigh nearly as much as the smallest female Greater Sage Grouse.
Saddle-billed Storks are indeed a spectacular bird. Check out this photo in the McCauley library. https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/93102161#_ga=2.37371427.2037751036.1608164645-532505861.1607311548 They stand up to 1.2 meters tall, and weigh up to 6 kg. They are boldly black-and-white with a huge red-black and yellow bill.
Here is a link to publications by Jonah.
I mentioned previous podcast episodes by Paul Bannick and Florence Reed so here are links to the blog posts for those episodes. Here is a link to the Sustainable Harvest International effort to help small farmers establish sustainable wildlife-friendly family farms.
I hope you enjoy this episode. Please leave comments with feedback, suggestions for future guests, or just to say hello.
Good birding and good day!