Painted Storks sit in a grassland, on a keekar tree in the Rann of Kutch. They then take flight.
"The Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala) 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 South Asia 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. As they wade along they also stir the water with their feet to flush hiding fish. They nest colonially in trees, often along with other waterbirds. They only sounds they produce are weak moans or bill clattering at the nest. They are not migratory and only make short distance movements in some parts of their range in response to food and for breeding. Like other storks, they are often seen soaring on thermals."
"In the past the species has been placed in the genus Ibis, Tantalus and Pseudotantalus. The name Tantalus is derived from Greek mythology. T C Jerdon called it the "Pelican Ibis". It was later placed along with the wood-storks to which it shows behavioural similarities and the affinity has been confirmed by sequence based studies.
The Painted Stork is widely distributed over the plains of Asia. They are found south of the Himalayan ranges and are bounded on the west by the Indus river system where they are rare and extend eastwards into Southeast Asia. They are absent from very dry or desert regions, dense forests and the higher hill regions. They are rare in most of Kerala and the species appears to have expanded into that region only in the 1990s. They are mainly seen on freshwater wetlands although they sometimes forage on the coast. They are resident in most regions but make seasonal movements. Young birds may disperse far from their breeding sites and a juvenile ringed at nest in Keoladeo National Park has been recovered 800 kilometres away in eastern India.
Painted Storks feed in groups in shallow wetlands. The preferred depth is about 12 to 25 cm of water and deeper waters are avoided. They feed mainly on small fish which they sense by touch while slowly sweeping their half open bill from side to side while it held submerged. They walks slowly and also disturb the water with their feet to flush fish. They also take frogs and the occasional snake. They forage mainly in the day but may forage late or even at night under exceptional conditions. After they are fed they may stand still on the shore for long durations.
They breed in trees along with other water birds. The platform nests are typically placed in a tree on an island or in an otherwise undisturbed area. The best nesting sites are at the tops of the trees and birds jostle for these locations. In some areas where they have been left undisturbed they nest very close to human habitations.
The breeding season begins in the winter months shortly after the monsoons. In northern India, the breeding season begins in mid-August while in southern India the nest initiation begins around October and continues till February and or even until April. A lot of variation is noticed in the onset of breeding across sites with the season at Kokrebellur and Edurupattu around January or February but at Telineelapuram, Kundakulam and Tirunelveli the breeding begins around October or November. Predation of eggs is mainly by crows and while very young chicks were sometimes attacked by crows, the older chicks were attacked by Black Kites. The typical clutch varies from 2 to 5 eggs with early breeders having larger clutches. The incubation period is about a month while the fledging period is nearly two months. The occasional predation of chicks by migrant Aquila eagles has been observed. During the mid-day heat, adults will stand at the nest with wings outstretched to shade the chicks. To feed chicks, adults regurgitate fish that they have caught and these are typically smaller than 20 cm long. The daily requirement for chicks has been estimated to be about 500 grams made up of about 9 fish fed in two sessions."
Source - Wikipedia
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