Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala): Population status, shift in food and behavioral ecology from isolated ponds of Godavari River basin in Nanded district, India

Chavan Shivaji Prabhakar* and Dilip Dudhmal

Aquatic Parasitology, Fisheries and Avian Research Laboratory, Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences,  Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded – 431606, M. S., India
*Email: dr_spchavan@rediffmail.com

Article Info		Abstract
Received: 09-02-2016, Revised: 12-03-2016, Accepted: 16-03-2016		Painted stork (Mycteria leucocephala) recently declared as Near Threatened (NT) stork species by IUCN. There is tremendous pressure on this bird species especially in searching food and nest building sites in parts of Marathwada region of Maharashtra State. This stork species has sluggish mode of feeding and stays for 1-4 hrs at a place, if not disturbed. Anthropogenic activities and behavioral response of this species in its habitat was observed to reach to the conclusion that such activities are forcing the storks to change its feeding habitat frequently which is increasing the energy demand for flying and food search. Shallow water marshes, wetlands and coastal shallow water (1.0-1.5 ft) of sandy and muddy river beaches with good population of weed fishes and bivalve Mollusks is the ideal  feeding habitat for painted storks. But, their feeding is greatly affected due to increased fishing and anthropogenic activities in Godavari river basin. Population and behavior of painted stork especially during feeding was also studied at 03 isolated ponds in Nanded region of Marathwada of Maharashtra State.
Keywords: Painted Stork, Population, Godavari, Anthropogenic, Behavioral ecology

FULL TEXT (Click here)

REFERENCES
Ali S and S D Ripley, 1978. Handbook to the birds of India and Pakistan 1 (2 ed.). Oxford University Press=93-95. ISBN 0-19-562063-1.
Abdul Jamil Urfi, 2011. Foraging Ecology of the Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala) : A Review; Water birds, 34(4):448-456..
Birdlife International, 2012. "Mycteria leucocephala". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
Chavan SP, SV Poul, MS Kadam, PM Kannewad, 2015. Traditional and synthetic materials used in fishing gears of Inland Fisheries in Marathwada, India. Advances in Aquatic Ecology.9:309-328.
Chavan Shivaji, Dudhmal Dilip, Kannewad Pandurang and Pathan Kalimullah, 2015a. Traditional Methods of Fish Processing by Fisher Tribes in Godavari river basin, (MS), India. Science Research Reporter, 5 (2):192-197.
C John Ralf, John R Sauer, San Droege, 1997. Monitoring Bird Populations by Point Counts . Albany, California (http://www.psw.fs.fed.us).
Desai JH, RV Shah and GK Menon, 1974. Diet and food requirement of painted stork at the breeding colony in the Delhi Zoological Park. Pavo. 12. 13-23.
Elliott A, 1992. Family Ciconiidae (Storks). In del Hoyo, J.; A. Elliott, J. Sargatal. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 1. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. pp. 449–458.
Internet Birds, 2015. Collection of photo, Video, classification and distribution records of avifauna from all over the world. (www.internetbirds.org).
Kahl MP, 1972. Comparative ethology of the Ciconiidae. The Wood-storks (Genera Mycteria and Ibis). Ibis 114 (1): 15–29. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1972.tb02586.x.
Kalam A and AJ Urfi, 2008. Foraging behaviour and prey size of the painted stork.  Journal of Zoology 274 (2): 198–204. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2007.00374.x.
Kannan V and R Manakadan 2007. Nocturnal foraging by Painted Storks Mycteria leucocephala at Pulicat Lake, India. Indian Birds, 3(1):25–26.
Li Zuo Wei, D Siti Hawa Yatim, Howes J, Ilias R, 2006. Status Overview and Recommendations for the Conservation of Milky Stork Mycteria cinerea in Malaysia: Final report of the 2004/2006 Milky Stork field surveys in the Matang Mangrove Forest, Perak. Wetlands International.
Pattanaik C, SN Prasad, EN Murthy, CS Reddy, 2008. Conservation of Painted Stork habitats in Andhra Pradesh. Current Science, 95 (8): 1001.
Shivaji P Chavan, Dilip Dudhmal, Shrikrishna Hambarde and AN Kulkarni, 2015b. Birds from Godavari River Basin in Nanded district of Maharashtra State, India: Annotated status and new Reports. In. J. Curr. Res. Aca. Rev.3(4): 328-351.
Urfi AJ, T Meganathan and A Kalam 2007. Nesting ecology of the Painted Stork Mycteria leucocephala at Sultanpur National Park, Haryana, India. Forktail 23: 150–153.
Urfi AJ, 2011. The Painted Stork: Ecology and Conservation. Springer,New York & Dordrecht,.

How to Cite this Article:

Editor: Dr. Umesh P. Mogle, Printed, Published and Owned by Dr. Umesh P. Mogle, Published from ‘Kaushalyaaie’, P. No. 43, Priyanka Residancy, Mantha Chaufulli Jalna 431203 (M.S.) India.