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Birds

Asian
Openbill Stork

Least Concern

Unknown

Asian Openbill Stork

Anastomus oscitans

The Asian Openbill Stork is a large wading bird. It is a resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Southeast Asia.

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 68 cm length. They breed near inland wetlands and build stick nest in trees, typically laying 2-6 eggs.

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, feeding on molluscs, frogs and large insects.

Asian Openbill, Openbill Stork

Regional Names
  • Assamese:
    শামুকভঙা
  • Bengali:
    এশীয় শামুকখোল, শামখোল, শামুকভাঙা
  • Bhojpuri:
    गंगला, डोकर
  • Gujarati:
    ફાટીચાંચ ઢોંક, ગુગળા
  • Hindi:
    गुंग्ला, घुंगिल, घोंघिल
  • Kannada:
    ಬಾಯ್ಕಳಕ ಕೊಕ್ಕರೆ
  • Malayalam:
    ചേരാക്കൊക്കൻ
  • Marathi:
    मुग्धबलाक, उघडचोच करकोचा
  • Nepali:
    घुँगीफोर गरुड
  • Oriya:
    ଗେଣ୍ଡାଳିଆ
  • Sanskrit:
    शंबूक भंजन, शिथिल हनु बक
  • Tamil:
    நத்தை குத்தி நாரை, அகலவாயன்
Media Gallery
Taxanomy

CICONIIFORMES
CICONIIDAE
Anastomus oscitans

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