The photo of the walking Jabiru was made by Ingmar van der meijden along the tapanahony river near Palumeu in October 2009. Then follow two photos of a Jabiru Stork that were made by Carl Beel in Nickerie in August 2009. Then a photo by Dominiek Plouvier of a Jabiru flying over Leonsberg also in August 2009. This must be a rare sight as the numbers of Jabiru in Suriname dwindle. It is a big bird with a height of 130 cm, almost totally white with a bare neck (black with a red band) and a large curved bill. It eats large fish but also other prey animals like snakes. They prefer large marshes, also the ones farther inland as in the Sipaliwini savanna.The indian names Jabiru (blown in the wind) and Tuiuiu were in use in the Guiana's as they were in Brazil, because of contacts between the indians here and there (between Caribs and Tupi for instance). Below a nest of a Jabiru in an big tree on the Sipaliwini savanna, photograph of Gerben van de Luijt in November 2006, when the birds were breeding.
Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least 4 observations on different days and the largest ones 10 or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.Observations of (small groups of) the jabiru stork were made along the coast and in marshes (blue) and in the Sipaliwini savanna (I suppose in a swamp) in the south. The number of birds that was regularly present in Suriname was estimated (De Jong and Spaans) as several dozen in the seventies, with a breeding population of less then ten pairs. But the number of birds present in Suriname was reported to vary considerably. My biggest number was a group of seven in Coronie (Ribot, 1983). The Penard brothers tell about groups of 50 birds at the beginning of the 20th century and Spaans reports groups of up to 40 birds (1976). But a survey at the beginning of 2001 saw no birds along the coast (Stinasu, Ottema), later 1-3 birds were seen in different months in aerial surveys. Its numbers along the coast have clearly sharply decreased because of hunting and probably the bird is almost extirpated there.
| Distribution in Suriname (explanation) | |
| Coastal area |  |
| Savanna |  |
| Forests | |
| Mountain forests | |
| Sipalawini savanna | |
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More pictures of storks and herons in Suriname
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