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Asian open-billed stork

The open billed storks are sexually monomorphic and sexes are verified by their position during copulation. The aggressive behavior of both the male and female storks continues throughout the breeding season.....

 

Asian open-billed stork - Anastomus oscitans (Shamukh Khol in Bengal) in the Raiganj Wildlife Sanctuary (Kulik Bird Sanctuary)

 

A resident colonial breeder distributed in tropical Southeast Asia. During monsoon period, the Kulik river enters the sanctuary, which supports a wide variety of food for the open billed stork. The main diet of the bird is apple snail, Pila globosa or other types of snail which grows in large number in the smaller or larger water bodies surrounding Kulik.

 

Every year large number of this bird species come in the sanctuary only for breeding purpose. According to the field report prepared by the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), more than 100,000 storks came to Kulik during 2018, forming one of the World’s largest concentrations of this group!

 

Interesting Read:

Pramanik AK, Santra KB, Manna CK (2016) Some Observations on Breeding Behaviour of the Asian Open-Billed Stork (Anastomus Oscitans) in the Raiganj Wildlife Sanctuary, West Bengal, India. International Research Journal of Environment Sciences Vol. 5(9), 10-21.

 

Images of Bengal, India

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Uploaded on June 5, 2019
Taken on October 1, 2018