STORK BIRDS

PAINTED STORK : Mycteria leucocephala RM Village: standing 93cm. The only white stork with delicate rose pink on shoulders and wing. Large marshes. Sub-continent; Sri Lanka.

Local Names: Janghil Dockh—Hindi; Kankari-Bihar; Jhangil, Ram jhankar, sona jhanga-Bengal; lamjang lungduk-Sind; Chitroda- Kutch; yeru kala konga- Telugu; Chenga narai- Tamil Sangurvalai narai—Tamil S. Lanka; dae truduwa- Sinhala.
Size : Europeon white stork:
Field Characters: A typical large stork with long, heavy, yellow bill slightly decurved near tip, and unfeathered waxy yellow face. Plumage white, closely barred and marked with glistening greenish black above rose-pink about the shoulders and on wing. Distribution : Throughout the Indian Union ; Pakistan; Nepal ,Bangladesh; Sri Lanka , Myanmar. Resident and locally migratory. Habits : In general similar to those of other stork. Spends the day standing ‘huched up’ and inert or sauntering about sedately on grassy marshland in quest of fish, frogs and snakes.Also wades into shallow water moving forward with neck craned down, bill immersed and partly open swaying from side to sidewith a scythe like action.
Nesting: season—between August and January, varying with local conditions.
Nest:a large stick platform with a shallow depression in the middle lined with leaves, straw, etc. Built on trees standing in or near water. Often 10 to 20 nests in single tree and almost touching one another. Breeds in enormous heronries. Often sharing these with cormorants, pelicans, egrets, openbill storks, white ibises.
Eggs:3 to 5, dull sullied white, occasionally with sparse brown spots and streaks. Both sexes share all the domestic duties.


ASIAN OPENBILL-STORK : Anstomus oscitans R Duck+: 81cm., standing 68 cm. Redish black bill with arching mandibles with gap in between, diagnostic. Lakes and marshes. Subcontinent; Sri Lanka.

Local Names: Gungla, Ghongila, Ghungil- Hindi; Docar-Bihar; Thonte bhanga, Shakhukh bhanga, Shakhukh khol-Bengal; Pouna konga-Southern Gonds; Galu konga- Telugu; Naththai kuththi narai-Tamil; Gomblle kokka, Bellon kokka, Beli kava-Sinhala; Samuk bhanga-Assamese; Cherakokkan-Malayalam.
Size: European white stork-; about 76 cm high.
Field Characters: A small white or grayish white stork, with black in the wings. In the distance rather like the European white stork, but the peculiar reddish black bill with arching mandibles leaving a narrow open gap between them is diagnostic. Sexes alike. Twos and Threes, or floaks, at jheels and marshes. Occasionally also tidal mudflats.
Distribution : Throughout the Indian Union; Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar. Resident and locally migratory.
Habits: One of our commonest storks with a wide and general distribution. General habits typical of the storks. The precise significance and function of the curiously shaped bill is obscure and calls for special investigation. It may have to do with opening the thick shells of the large Ampullaria snails found on marshes, the soft body and viscera of which from a large proportion of its food in due season. It also eats frogs, crabs large insects and other small living things.
Nesting : season—mostly between July and September in N. India; November to March in the South and in Sri Lanka. Breeds in colonies amongst mixed heronries of cormorants, egrets, painted storks, etc.
Nest :a circular platform of twig with the central depression lined with leaves.
Eggs : 2 to 4, white, close textured.


EUROPEAN WHITE STORK : Ciconia ciconia M Vulture+: standing 106cm. Pure white except for black wings. Bill and legs red. Marshes, moist grassland. Pakistan NW. India, Gangetic Plain, east to Bangladesh and Assam, south decreasingly through the Peninsula.

Local Names: Laglag, Haji laglag, Ujil, Dhak, Gybar, Bada retwa-Hindi; Wadumi konga-Telugu; Laklak- Sind
Size: Vulture: standing about 100cm. High.
Field Characters: Along legged, egret like bird, pure white except for the black wings. Legs and heavy, pointed bill red. Sexes alike. Singly , pairs of parties on and about marshland. Distribution: Winter visitor in small numbers. Practically throughout the Indian Union; Pakistan, Nepal ,Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. Habits: Keeps in pairs or small parties, collecting in to large flocks for the northward migration in spring. A young stork ringed in Germany was recovered in Bikaner ,about 6400km distant. Flight seemingly leisurely, but swift, and strong—rapid wing beats punctuated with short glides. Much given to soaring and circling on thermal currents high up in the air along with vulture etc.
Food: Frogs, lizard and large insects
Nesting: season—in W. Asia and C.EUROPE May to July. Nest—a large stick platform on chimneys, tops of buildings, tall ntrees, etc.
Eggs :3 to 5, pure white.


WHITE-NECKED STORK : Ciconia episcopus R Vulture+: standing 106 cm. A glistening black stork with conspicuous white neck and black cap. Flooded grasslands, irrigated fields, marshes in forest, etc. Subcontinent; Sri Lanka.

Local Names: Manik-jor-Bengal; Laglag-Hindi; Bagula, Kardok, Kandesur, Kowrow-Marathi; Kali tul-Gujrat; Vannathi narai-Tamil; n Kanua-Assam; Karim kokku- Malayalam; Padili kokka-Sinhala.
Size: European white stork:- about 85 cm. High.
Field Characters: A glistening black stork with conspicuous white neck and black ‘skull cap’. Abdomen and vent white. Long red legs; heavy blackish bill. Sexes alike. Pairs or parties, on or near marshland.
Distribution: Practically throughout the Indian Union up to about 1000 m in the Himalayas; Pakistan(rare); Nepal ; Bangladesh ; Sri Lanka; Myanmar. Resident and locally migratory.
Habits: Affects well-watered plains country. Partial to water logged ground, and the environs of rivers, jheels and ponds especially where the latter are in the process of desiccation living fish and frogs high and dry. Soaring aloft and other habits similar to those of the European white stork. Food: Fish , Frogs, reptiles, crabs, mollusks, large insects, etc. Nesting: season—practically all year, varying locally.
Nest :a large stick platform with a central depression lined with grass and rubbish; high up in a Silk Cotton or similar tall tree, usually near water and often also close to a village.
Eggs :3 to ,4, white, obtuse ovals.


BLACK STORK : Ciconia nigra M Vulture+=standing 106 cm. Black glossed with green, bronze, and purple above. White below. Marshes and near rivers. Pakistan and N. India, south to deccan. Single records from Andhra, Kerala and Sri Lanka.

Local Names: Surmal—Hindi.
Size: European white stork:
Field Characters: Above—black, highly glossed with green, bronze and purple. Below-- lower breast, belly, flanks and under tail-covers white.
Distribution: Winter visitor to northern India; Pakistan; Nepal east of Myanmar. Rare in the Deccan- southern most record from Rollapadu (15’ 52’N. LAT.), Andhra Pradesh. Sri Lanka.
Habits: Shy and wary, seen in pairs or small flocks in marshy areas, rivers, inland waters often in association with European white storks.
Food:Carnivorous- fish, frogs, mollusks, insects added to with an occasional young or disabled bird or rodent.
Nesting season:In Central Europe in April to May. Nest :a large stick platform built on a lofty tree. Eggs :3 to 5, white.


GREATER ADJUTANT-STORK : Liptoptilos dubius RM and nomadic. Vulture:+ standing 120-150 cm. Black, grey and white stork with massive bill. Long, naked, ruddy pendent breast pouch distinctive. Marshes. N. India west to Pakistan in SW. monsoon, south to Deccan. Bangladesh.

Local Names: Hargila garur, Peda dhauk-Hindi; Dhink-Bihar; Dusta-Hindi in Deccan; Hagila –Bengal; Peenigala kong- Telugu.
Size: Vulture+: standing about 125cm. Field Characters: Alarge sad colored black, grey, and dirty European white stork with an enormous yellow wedge-shaped bill, and naked ruddy pouch pendent from the chest is diagnostic. Sexes alike . Singly or parties on marshes.
Distribution: Nortern and NE. India ; Bangladesh Myanmar. Local Migrant; Pakistan during rain . Rare in the Deccan.
Habits: A close relation of the African Marabou; called Adjutant from its measured martial gait as it paces up and down. An efficient scavenger, often consorting with kites and vultures to feed at carcasses and garbage dumps on out skirts of villages. Also eats frogs, fish, reptiles, large insects,etc. Heavy in the take-off, but flies strongly with noisy rhythmical flaps when once properly air-borne, and also circles aloft gracefully on motionless wings as most other storks do. A loud clattering of the mandibles is the only sound normally produced.
Nesting :Scattered colonies in North and NE. India, and the Sundarbans. Its real breeding grounds lie in S. Myanmar where enormous colonies, mixed with pelicans and smaller adjutant s, are active between October and December.
Nest:an immense stick platform on rock pinnacles or lofty forest trees.
Eggs:3 to 4, white.


LESSER ADJUTANT-STORK : LEPTOPTILOS JAVANICUS RM VULTURE standing 110-120 cm. Glossy black above white below. No neck pouch. Swamps and and flooded land. N. India Bangladesh Kerala , Sri Lanka .

Local Names: chingara chindana , chindiari bag gor,; madanchur ,madantur, chota garur—Hindi; madanchur , madantaak-bengali; tokla moora-Assam; bor tokola-Nowgong,Assam; dobal konga, doidal gatti gadu-Telugu; meve kokku – Tamil; mana –Sinhala;
Size: Vulture : Field Characters: Similar to, but smaller in size than the Adjutant with less erect carriage and glossymatelic black instead of slaty upperparts; white below. Lacks neck pouch. Sexes alike.
Distribution: Resident and locally migratory . NE. India ,Kerla , Bangladesh Sri Lanka. Uncoman in continental in India .
Habits : Normally solitory and behaviour similar to the Adjutant but less of a scavenger and more shy. Affects well watered country. Food : fish , frogs ,reptiles and invertebrates. Call : Said to make a guttural noise.
Nesting season : November to January .
Nest : massive platform of sticks in lofty salmalia and similar trees.
Eggs : similar to the Adjutant’s. Main nesting area NE India. Only circumstantial evidence of its nesting in Kerala. Declining in Sri Lanka owing to disturbance in its breeding sites .


BLACK-NECKED STORK : Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus R Vulture=: standing 135cm. Black head , bill , white underparts and black and white wings diagnostic. Iris of male brown, female yellow. Marshes and large rivers. Subcontinent : Sri Lanka

Local Names: Banaras, Loharjang, Loha sarang, - Hindi, loha janga-Bengal; telia hereng –Assam; Periya narai-Tamil; Pedda nallakonga- Telugu; Ali kokka- Sinhala.
Size: European white stork: about 125cm. Field Characters: The large size, enormous black bill glistening black head and neck, white underparts and pied black and white wings readily identify this stork. Sexes alike but iris-brown in male, lemon-yellow in female. Solitary on marshland and jheels. Distribution : Throughout the Indian Union; Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka Myanmar.
Habits : Confined to rivers, jheels and marshes. Usually met with as a solitary bird wading in shallow water. It is mopre of a fish eater than other storks, but also eats frogs, reptiles, crabs, etc. Though widely distributed, the species is nowhere common or abundant. Destruction of wetlands and trapping the birds for zoos have reduced their numbers further and the species could be endangered now. Nesting: between August and January, varying locally. Nest : an enormous deep platform of twigs with a depression in the centre lined with leaves and grass. Placed near the top of the large peepul or similar trees standing near water or amids cultivation. Eggs : 3or 4, white, like those of other storks