English: Common name - Openbill stork

Binomial name - Anastomus oscitans

Odisha Koraput is known as Eastern Ghats also the place is known as paradise for birds and their ecosystem. Birds are beautiful animals and many people enjoy watching them. In our contemporary societies, wild birds, in addition to the pleasures they provide with their compelling physical forms, colors, and behaviors, are perhaps increasingly significant because of the continuing connection they give us to the natural world. Among larger wild animals, birds are the ones most town- and city-dwellers still encounter frequently-so birds have assumed an essential role in allowing us, even in our usual paved and built-up surroundings, a degree of exposure to wildlife and nature. Regular exposure to wild animals, often in the guise of wild bird sightings, may also help motivate us to take part in efforts to preserve the world’s threatened animal species and remaining unspoiled wilderness. The Asian openbill or Asian openbill stork (Anastomus oscitans) is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. This distinctive stork is found mainly in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is grayish or white with glossy black wings and tail and the adults have a gap between the arched upper mandible and recurved lower mandible. Young birds are born without this gap which is thought to be an adaptation that aids in the handling of snails, their main prey. Although resident within their range, they make long distance movements in response to weather and food availability.

Description

The Asian open bill stork is predominantly grayish (non breeding season) or white (breeding season) with glossy black wings and tail that have a green or purple sheen. The name is derived from the distinctive gap formed between the recurved lower and arched upper mandible of the beak in adult birds. Young birds do not have this gap. The cutting edges of the mandible have a fine brush like structure that is thought to give them better grip on the shells of snails. The mantle is black and the bill is horn ¬grey. At a distance, they can appear somewhat like a white stork or Oriental stork. The short legs are pinkish to grey, reddish prior to breeding. No breeding birds have smoky grey wings and back instead of white. Young birds are brownish ¬grey and have a brownish mantle. Like other storks, the Asian open bill is a broad winged soaring bird, which relies on moving between thermals of hot air for sustained flight. They are usually found in flocks but single birds are not uncommon. Like all storks, it flies with its neck outstretched. The main feed of openbill is apple snail. They also feed on fish, crabs and frogs. They are seen foraging in flocks in inland wetlands, marshes and ponds. They breed during July to September in northern India and November to March in southern India. They make platform of nests on half submerged trees. The nest may have two to four eggs. Both the openbill parents take turn to incubate the eggs.

Habitat and distribution

The usual foraging habitats are inland wetlands and are only rarely seen along river banks and tidal flats. Birds may move widely in response to habitat conditions. The species is very rare in the Sind and Punjab regions of Pakistan, but widespread and common in India, Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand.

Young birds: have brown tinge to the plumage.

Birds are mainly day-active animals; like most of us, they are out and about during daylight hours and asleep at night. Many other kinds of large animals-especially mammals-are more active at night, which makes finding and observing them much more difficult.

Breeding adults: are all white except for the black wing flight feathers, red legs and dull yellow­grey bill. The mandibles do not meet except at the tip, and this gives rise to the species' name.

Non­breeding adults: have the white of the plumage replaced by off-white.