OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Mycteria ("nose/snout") leucocephala ("white head")
Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 2-3.5kg / Wingspan: 150-160cm / Height: 93-102cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Near Threatened
I must admit, seeing Painted Stork in Malaysia was a bit of a pleasant accident - we pulled over at a restaurant at a fairly random road near Kuala Lumpur Airport and four of these colourful storks circled overhead. For the listing purists, these birds wouldn't count however - Malaysia has a bit of a more lax attitude to free-flying birds in zoos and collections and in this case these birds have gone on to establish a feral colony in Selangor near Kuala Lumpur Airport where these birds were seen. I saw a further individual on a pond near the road Malacca on the Northern outskirts of Kuala Lumpur but this is near to the free-flying zoo population so probably from there. The Painted Stork is one of the more common Stork species in Asia, however it is suffering declines due to human disturbance - however unfortunately it itself is a cause of conservation problems for Milky Stork - a similar species that is native to Malaysia. On our later trip to Cambodia, truely wild Painted Stork were a frequently abundant bird in many locations.
Related Species:
Order: Ciconiiformes
Family: Ciconidae
Genus: Mycteria
Subspecies: none - monotypic
- Sighting Locations -
- CAMBODIA/SINGAPORE 2019 TRIP: Seen at Florican Grassland Reserve, Phnom Krom and in huge abundance at Prek Toal
MALAYSIA - Malay - Upeh Sawah ("Field Stork")
Feral populations exist in Selangor province and possibly along the Singapore straits.
Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto
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