Asian Openbill Storks

Description:

This is a large bird. The plumage is mostly white with a black fringe. Long legs for wading. Distinctive beak. In the 5th photo you can see the gap between the mandibles that gives it the name Openbill. It is supposed to be an adaptation to crack snail shells.

Habitat:

We were driving from Chinsurah to Village Dwarhatta to see terracotta temples and relying on Google to guide us, which it did via tiny, meandering rural roads. We crossed a river (sorry no name) and from the bridge we spotted a flock of birds. It was a narrow bridge and we could not stop on it although there was no traffic worth the name...so we parked after crossing over. I ran along the embankment and soon was in a place to photograph this flock. I was high above the birds and so they took no notice of me. Individual Openbills kept arriving and there were other avian species too but all fed/swam peacefully. The river did not appear very deep. It had lots of vegetation including tall plants in clumps, water hyacinth and of course floating algae. Absolutely rural atmosphere and super quiet!

Notes:

Chinsurah 22.9012° N, 88.3899° E Dwarhatta .22.7900° N, 88.0730° We were nearer to Dwarhatta. This bird is often seen foraging in open land (near water) on the outskirts of Kolkata city. I see them flying overhead everyday.