Black-necked Stork

Black-necked Stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus) 

   This bird was spotted in the outskirts, about 10 kms away from the town of Bharatpur, Rajasthan enroute to New Delhi in the month of January 2019. It was found foraging actively  in a large shallow swamp with floating weeds in an agricultutal area. The yellow colour of the iris indicates it to be a female. The male  has been reported to possess a brown coloured iris. This species is said to be a large wader of the Stork family and is generally found distributed in the west, central highlands and northern gangetic plains of India. It is said to be rare in peninsular India and the southern most part in India where spottings have been recorded is in Chilka lake area,  Puri, Odisha (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S16491137). In the ebird portal, no spotting of this bird has been recorded in any part of the state of Tamil Nadu until 19.03.2019. This species has been reported to be least abundant in habitats with high diversity of other waterbirds, a point to be noted by birders. They generally don’t flock in large numbers and are always found alone or few of them together. They  require wetlands that are free from disturbances in order to feed and nest. An interesting feature is that these species are highly carnivorous and have been reported to feed on other smaller waders (birds) in addition to fishes, crustaceans and amphibians.

Links & ref:

1.     http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed: March 19, 2019).

2.    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-necked_stork