Promoted
Painted stork feeding its young
|| Bharatpur || Feb 2023
With their bright and contrasting colours and large breeding colonies, Painted Storks are arguably the most popular birds in sanctuaries. After a month of incubation, young ones hatch and are on the nest for the next couple of months, when the juveniles leave the nest, their plumage is dull brown in colour. It takes 2-3 years for them to attain the bright colours. Young Painted Storks make a harsh grating sound and kneel down with their beaks open while pleading for food from their parents, like in this photo.
The Painted Stork is a large wading bird in the stork family. It is found in the wetlands of the plains of tropical Asia south of the Himalayas in the Indian Subcontinent and extending into Southeast Asia. Their distinctive pink tertial feathers give them their name. They forage in flocks in shallow waters along rivers or lakes. They immerse their half open beaks in water and sweep them from side to side and snap up their prey of small fish that are sensed by touch.
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