Birds Around Me 0067 - Painted Stork (कठसारंग) - Mycteria leucocephala

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Do you know that there are about 20 species of stork and they live upto 30, at time 40 years.  The largest species of stork is the Marabou stork (Leptoptilos crumenifer), with a height of 152 centimeters and a wingspan of 3.7 meters (12 feet) largest wing-spread of any living bird.

The smallest stork is the hamerkop (Scopus umbretta) at 56 centimeters (22 inches) in length with a weight of 470 grams (17 ounces).

Painted Stork (कठसारंग) - Mycteria leucocephala is a medium sized stork and can be seen all across India. I have seen them in Delhi, Jabalpur and Bangalore. First time I was them was in a nest on top of a tree by the road side and the size of bird and its nest amazed me.

Painted Stork (कठसारंग) - Mycteria leucocephala
Painted Stork (कठसारंग) - Mycteria leucocephala
Padariya, Jabalpur, October 2023


Painted Stork (कठसारंग) - Mycteria leucocephala  medium-sized (93 cm), is large stork has a heavy yellow beak with a down-curved tip. The head of the adult is bare and orange or reddish in colour. There is a distinctive black breast band with white scaly markings.

Identification: Distinctive orange bare head with yellow beak and down-curved tip.
 
Where: Marshes, jheels, flooded fields, large rivers.

Hindi Name of Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala) - कठसारंग


Ashutosh Jhureley @BirdsAroundMe

Painted Stork (कठसारंग) - Mycteria leucocephala
Painted Stork (कठसारंग) - Mycteria leucocephala
Sanjivini Nagar, Jabalpur, MP, India
October 2023





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