Painted Stork

One of the most soothing water birds to spot for a birder is the Painted Stork. It stands still and moves so gracefully along the shore. This bird species has been featured in several movies, both in Hollywood and in other movie industries. The movie 'Storks' is the best example.

They derive their name from the painted look of their pink feathers. These brush-stroke like pink patches are because of the carotenoid-filled foods that they eat. The most common one being fish.

To identify the Painted Stork is simple. You can see the yellow beak has a downwards-curved tip in the above picture. The adult's head is bare which comes in colors like orange or reddish.

The tips of the tertials are bright pink which is easy to observe when they are at rest because it appears on the back and rump.

You can observe that the breast has a black band with white scales. The band extends to the under-wing coverts and the white tips of the black covert.

The body of adults is mainly white while the primaries and secondaries are black with greenish gloss. The legs appear white but are yellowish or red because they do neurosis or defecating on their legs which happens mainly when they are resting. The tail is black and has a green gloss.

The young of the species are mainly whitish while the bill is grey, it has blackish skin on the face. The juveniles acquire a brownish plumage and they obtain the adult plumage in 2 to 3 years.

The Painted Stork tends to fly while stretching its neck. This is kind of amusing for a bird watcher to see as it appears as if there is a string or rope tied around its neck and its being pulled along by something in front of it.

The Painted Stork belongs to the Kingdom 'Animalia', the Phylum is Chordata, the Class is Aves, the Order is Ciconiiformes, the Family is Ciconiidae, the Genus is Mycteria, and the Scientific or Binomial name is Mycteria leucocephala.

The Painted Stork is usually 93 to 102 centimeters tall, the wingspan is 150 to 160 centimeters and if you need to know, it weighs between 2 to 3.5 kg. The adult males are larger than the females.

The diet and feeding patterns of the Painted Stork is interesting. They forage during the day and can forage even late at night. They are basically Carnivores.

They eat small fish, frogs and snakes. They use the late morning thermals to soar to find foraging areas for food, they find fish with the help of touch as they slowly sweep their half-open bill from side to side while it is submerged in shallow water.

To feed their chicks, the adults regurgitate fish which is smaller than 20 centimeters, the daily requirement for chicks is 500 to 600 grams and includes 9 fish.

The Painted Storks are found mainly in the plains. They live south of the Himalayas, they are not found past the Indus river to the west. They like to live in freshwater wetlands at all times of the year, they sometimes live or feed in irrigation canals, crop fields and flooded rice-fields in the monsoon season.

They are year-round birds but are capable of seasonal movements too. Juveniles or Sub-adults can disperse far away from the breeding sites. They breed on massive trees in wetlands with spot-billed pelicans or with other storks.

Painted Storks live in small groups but can increase in group size as per where they can find an abundance of food.

They are slow birds and try to try scare fish with their long legs. When they have eaten enough food they stand still in the water. Flock sizes are small on agricultural land, they can be more in winter because of fledlings.

Painted Storks breed in August in Northern India, while in Southern India they start constructing their nest in October and the build ends between February to April.

One to five eggs are laid at a time and the early breeders can lay a few more. The eggs are incubated for one month and the hatchlings fledge in two months.

At mid-day, the pair will stand near the nest and spread their wings to keep their chicks cool. The young can disgorge food and feign death to defend themselves.

The clutch are more likely to survive when they are laid during the early part of the monsoon or along with large colonies. The survival rate of the clutch is low with decreasing temperature.

The bare red skin of the face appears after reaching adulthood which involves losing feathers and deposition of lipids under the skin.

Painted Storks clatter their bills and are also known to make harsh croaking or low moaning sounds when they are standing in or around their nest. They are not known to make any calls or similar sounds while they are standing in the water.

The average life span of a Painted Stork is around 20 to 28 years.

A bird louse called Ardeicola tantali and a subcutaneous mite, Neottialges kutzeri, are sometimes found on the Painted Stork which leads to a decrease in its life span.

The colonies of a Painted Stork often turns into tourist attractions. In Pakistan, along the Indus River system, they are under threat because chicks are poached to sell them on the black-market. In the past, the species was almost decimated in Thailand due to habitat loss.

The chicks of the Painted Stork are preyed on by Pallas's fish eagles. The adults have no known predators.

The population of the Painted Stork is roughly between 16000 to 24000 (decreasing). Hence their Conservation Status is 'Near Threatened'.

At the end of this article, it is important to mention that the Painted Stork does not make a good pet, it might be a huge setback to the conservation efforts.

It would be unethical to pet such a massive bird and keep it for one's personal pleasure, for even if you tried, you would not be able to take care of the bird properly. You would need to spend lots of money in buying land and food for it, It is favorable to let them be free in the wild.

For any Indian bird lover out there, the opportunity to see the Painted Stork in many parts of India is quite high. You will probably find them in freshwater wetlands near you.