Painted Stork

The painted stork is found in India, Sri Lanka, portions of Thailand and portions of the east coast of China. The "painted" moniker comes from their beautiful and distinct pink tertial feathers. It reminds me a lot of the yellow-billed stork we've seen in Africa, which may be my favorite stork so far. 

Painted stork coming in for landing in Minneryia NP. 

Lots of painted storks in flight over Minneryia NP.

The head is bare and orange or reddish and it has a heavy yellow bill with a down-turned tip that gives a hint of ibis-ness. It has a black breast band that continues around to the under-wing and white tips on the black coverts that give the look of a white stripe along the side. The secondaries are black with a greenish gloss and the rest of the body is white. The long tertials are tipped in bright pink and extend over the back and rump. The legs are yellowish to red, but they defecate on their legs when at rest, like turkey vultures, which can turn the legs white. 

A beautiful bird.

Uduwalawe NP.

Although the painted stork comes close to the yellow-billed stork, its face and legs just don't quite measure up. The probably come in second on my stork scale. 

I think my favorite photo of all. A little bit of ugly.