a source of prey, it has also been observed to forage solitarily on dry plains outside the breeding season where mice and toads (candidate prey) sometimes occur in large numbers. It also forages on dry cultivated fields where invertebrates may have been disturbed. During the evenings in the dry season from December until April, individuals form large assemblages around low-lying water features where prey density is high but prey abundance is not. Notably numerous assemblages of foraging maguari storks have been sighted in the Brazilian municipality Quissama during the dry season in October, where they congregate around shallow pools in search of food. The maguari stork's tendency to forage in both wetlands and dry lands reflects its generalist nature, whereas specialists such as the jabiru depend more strongly on wetlands as a feeding ground and are sighted more frequently near to wetlands than the maguari stork. In one study at half-hectare ponds in the llanos during the dry season, a flock of 90 maguari stork individuals were observed together with jabirus and wood storks. Because of limited prey, intra and interspecific competition inevitably occurs in such aggregations; often leading to kleptoparasitism. Maguari storks are mostly found to steal food amongst themselves, but jabirus also occasionally steal from them, taking large prey items such as eels. The maguari stork has been observed uplifting cowhides in dry fields in search of potential invertebrate prey underneath. This occurs especially in the non-breeding season when large migratory flocks search for arthropods in the bushes and dry short grass. Some individuals also sometimes eat pieces of cow dung. Historically, one individual has been observed to swallow a cowhide whole. Food brought to nestlings by their parents includes fish and eels, small mammals such as rats, and invertebrates. However, the proportions of these taxa differ between years depending on availability and the food brought to the nest for the young consists predominantly of aquatic organisms. Parents carry food to the nest as a large bolus in the throat. They regurgitate it onto the nest, whereupon it is picked up and eaten by the nestlings. Food is usually regurgitated in small parts for young nestlings, and as one large mass for older nestlings. Breeding Many aspects of the maguari stork's reproductive biology and nesting strategies are unique to this species and are absent in other stork species. Such differences in breeding and nesting habits have probably resulted