Sunda marabou
| Sunda marabou | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sunda Marabou ( Leptoptilos javanicus ) |
||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Leptoptilos javanicus | ||||||||||
| ( Horsfield , 1821) |
The Sunda marabou ( Leptoptilos javanicus ) is a South Asian stork species , which is also called the Malay stork , Java marabou or Little Adjutant .
features
The 110–120 centimeter long Sunda marabou has a wingspan of 210 centimeters. The top and the wings are black, the belly and the underside of the tail are colored white. It has a bald head, a powerful beak and a membranous goiter sac. The Sunda Marabou flies with its head retracted.
Occurrence
The distribution area of the Sunda marabou stretches from southern China to India and south to Java . It inhabits the coastal mangroves, salt marshes, lakes and grasslands flooded by the tide. He avoids being near people.
behavior
The Sunda Marabou primarily hunts fish, such as mudskippers or climbing fish , but also amphibians, crustaceans, grasshoppers and small rodents. When hunting, he slowly walks through the muddy areas and tries to scare away the mudskippers hidden here. It lowers its beak deep into the mud. Unlike the other two species of marabou, they are rarely found on carrion .
Reproduction
The breeding season of the Sunda marabou varies greatly in different areas. In northern India it ranges from November to January; it breeds in Sumatra in June and in Borneo in October.
The stork nests in wetlands of the tropical lowlands. It builds its nest up to 1.5 meters in size on trees at a height of 12-30 meters. It breeds in small breeding colonies, often with the milk stork and the Argala marabou . The clutch consists of two to four eggs and is incubated by both adult birds for around thirty days. The young are born practically naked, but soon develop a dense, whitish down dress. Both parent birds tirelessly care for the young birds. The young Sunda marabou can fly when they are around two months old, then accompany their parents on their flights for a few more weeks and then set off on their own.
Duration
The number of the Sunda marabou is declining throughout the range. It is most common with over 1000 birds on the east coast of Sumatra, half of the Indonesian population. It is less common elsewhere. There are only 50 birds left in Vietnam . The causes of the decline are habitat destruction and disturbance during the nesting season.
literature
- Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp, Tim Inskipp: Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Christopher Helm, London 1998, ISBN 0-691-04910-6 .
Web links
- Leptoptilos javanicus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed January 31 of 2009.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings on Leptoptilos javanicus in the Internet Bird Collection