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Painted Stork
Mycteria leucocephala
Location where spotted : Quarry, during monsoon
Physical Characteristics
- These black and white storks have a partially naked, orange head with a yellow, slightly curved bill. The wings and chest are black and white "checked." The wing feathers closest to the tail are pink. The males are slightly larger.
- Size of average adult
- height: 3 feet
- weight: 6.6 pounds
- Approximate life span is 28 years in captivity.
Diet
- Wild: fish
- At SCZ: prepackaged bird of prey diet, 2 kinds of smelt and mice
Behavior
- Young are able to call loudly, but by 18 months they become practically voiceless
- Search for fish in shallow waters with bill half open, sometimes using a wing to direct the fish toward the open bill
- Often nest in mixed colonies with other storks, ibises, spoonbills, cormorants and herons
- Nests are built of sticks and lined with leaves, males do most of the stick gathering
- Many ritualized displays are performed in order to find a mate, including bill snapping, preening and flying around
- Reproduction
- sexual maturity: 4 years
- breeding season: end of rainy season
- incubation: 27 - 32 days
- adults regurgitate food onto the floor of the nest, nestlings are shaded from the sun by a parent's partially opened wings, young obtain full adult plumage at 3 years
Environmental/Global
- Habitat: freshwater marshes, ponds and flooded fields
- Distribution: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, eastern China, Thailand, Kampuchea and Vietnam