Dietary exposure to mercury in nestling wood storks (Mycteria americana) in Georgia

The United States breeding population of the wood stork (Mycteria americana) was listed as endangered in 1984; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the determination of potential contaminant hazards as a task important to the recovery of the species. Storks nest in colonies and adult storks forage over wide areas and return with prey items to feed to nestlings. The most recently consumed prey items are usually regurgitated by nestlings when they are handled. In 1995, over 200 food items from four wood stork colonies were collected while banding nestlings between 20 and 40 days old, and total mercury determined in individual food items. Two colonies were located on the Atlantic coast and two in inland areas. Overall dietary mercury concentration for each colony was calculated based on the biomass of each type of food item within the diet. Freshwater prey items had higher mercury concentrations than saltwater items most frequently chosen by storks. Daily Hg doses were estimated for a range of nestling sizes and daily food consumption rates. Risk factors were calculated based on two lowest observable adverse effect concentrations (LOAECs) from previous avian mercury ingestion studies. Based on one LOAEC, all four colonies in this study were at risk of sublethal effects due to mercury in the diet of nestling wood storks. More extensive studies of sublethal effects in avian species from mercury contamination are necessary for more accurate risk assessment.