JACKSON, S.C. --- Wood storks don't win beauty contests, but they sure can eat.
A wood stork sits on a dead tree near the Audubon Center in South Carolina. The Silver Bluff sanctuary is designed to create an ideal habitat for the endangered birds.
This summer, the federally endangered wading birds are spending a lot of time at the Silver Bluff Audubon Center, where the restaurant is always open.
"We've had about 100 birds here so far this year," said Paul Koehler, who manages the 3,250-acre sanctuary and its series of ponds built especially to cater to hungry storks.
Typically, storks seek out a wetlands habitat that partially dries out in late summer, concentrating on the small fish and crustaceans that make up the bird's diet.
Because those habitats have vanished, storks have, too -- prompting their addition to the federal Endangered Species List in 1984.
Silver Bluff is one of the major inland feeding areas for the birds, which require about 440 pounds of fish per breeding pair during the March-to-August breeding season.
The ponds at Silver Bluff were designed and built in the early 1980s to be packed with small fish, and then slowly drained in late summer to create the sort of habitat that lures in storks from a radius of more than 50 miles.
"We get assistance every year from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service," Koehler said. "We also have fundraisers to support the programs out here."
This year, the Fish & Wildlife Service hatchery in Orangeburg, S.C., stocked the three ponds with more than 1 million small bluegill -- most of which will be eaten by the end of the summer.
"They just finished feeding out the first pond, so the numbers drop when the fish are gone," he said. "Now we're drawing down the middle pond, so in a few more days, the bird numbers will rise again."
Many of the storks are believed to travel in from rookeries in Jenkins County, Ga., where nesting habitat in Carolina Bay formations is used each spring and summer.
This year, researchers from Savannah River Ecology Lab even climbed the tall trees to band stork chicks as part of a study to see how many of them will show up at Silver Bluff and other areas, Koehler said. "So we'll be watching for banded birds. It'll be interesting to see if they turn up here."
The Silver Bluff sanctuary is open to visitors, but one of the site's main fundraisers -- Storks & Corks -- will be held Saturday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., offering visitors an opportunity to sample fine wines and food while observing the storks.
Tickets are $35 per person and reservations -- which are required -- can be made by calling (843) 462-2150.
RIVER FRIEND: Dick Fox, who died in March, was one of the Savannah River's most persistent supporters.
Last Thursday, he was honored as recipient of the second annual River Advocate award bestowed by Savannah Riverkeeper.
"He had always been a friend of the river, an advocate for all the events, he was instrumental in getting some of the rowing programs going and he was an original member of the Augusta Canal Authority," said Tonya Bonitatibus, the organization's director.
Accepting the award during the group's membership meeting was Fox's daughter, Ginger Fox Connell.
MEGA RAMP: Georgia's Department of Natural Resources opened a new mega-ramp in July at Lake Hartwell's Tugaloo State Park.
The facility includes six boating lanes, plenty of parking and restrooms. It will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Georgia received funding for the ramp as part of a natural resource damage settlement related to PCB contamination of Twelve Mile Creek which feeds into Lake Hartwell. The PCB contamination resulted from discharges from a manufacturing plant formerly located along the creek.
A wood stork sits on a dead tree near the Audubon Center in South Carolina. The Silver Bluff sanctuary is designed to create an ideal habitat for the endangered birds.
