Asian Openbill Stork

Asian Openbill Stork

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Ciconiiformes
Family:	Ciconiidae
Genus:	*Anastomus*
Species:	*oscitans*

Binomial name

Anastomus oscitans
Boddaert, 1783

The Asian Openbill Stork , Anastomus oscitans, is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It is a resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Southeast Asia.

Asian Openbill Stork breeds near inland wetlands. It builds a stick nest in trees, and lays 2-6 eggs.

Asian Openbill Stork is a broad-winged soaring bird, which relies on moving between thermals of hot air for sustained flight. Like all storks, it flies with its neck outstretched. It is relatively small for a stork at 68cm length.

Breeding adults are all white except for the black wing flight feathers, red legs and dull yellow-grey bill. The mandibles do not meet except at the tip, and this gives rise to the species' name. Non-breeding adults have the white of the plumage replaced by off-white. Young birds have brown tinge to the plumage.

The Asian Openbill Stork, like most of its relatives, walks slowly and steadily on the ground, taking molluscs, frogs and large insects.

Reference

Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ISBN 0-691-04910-6