Black-necked Stork
Encyclopedia
The Black-necked Stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus) is a tall long-necked wading bird in the stork
family. It is a resident species across South
and Southeast Asia
with a disjunct population in Australia
. It lives in wetland habitats to forage for a wide range of animal prey. Adult birds of both sexes have a heavy bill and are patterned in white and glossy blacks, but the sexes differ in the colour of the iris. In Australia, it is sometimes called a Jabiru
although that name refers to a stork species found in the Americas. It is one of the few storks that is strongly territorial when feeding.
The Black-necked Stork is a large bird, 130–150 cm (51–60 inches) tall having a 230-cm (91-inch) wingspan. The average weight is around 4100 grams. The plumage
patterns are conspicuous with younger birds differing from adults. Adults have a glossy bluish-black iridescent head, neck, secondary flight feathers and tail; a coppery-brown crown; a bright white back and belly; bill black with a slightly concave upper edge; and bright red legs. The sexes are identical but the adult female has a yellow iris while the adult male has it brown. Juveniles younger than 6 months have a brownish iris; a distinctly smaller and straighter beak; a fluffy appearance; brown head, neck, upper back, wings and tail; a white belly; and dark legs. Juveniles older than 6 months have a mottled appearance especially on the head and neck where the iridescence is partly developed; dark-brown outer primaries; white inner primaries that forms a shoulder patch when the wings are closed; a heavy beak identical in size to adults but still straighter; and dark to pale-pink legs. Like most storks, the Black-necked Stork flies with the neck outstretched, not retracted like a heron
. In flight it appears spindly and a black bar running through the white wings (the somewhat similar looking migratory Black Stork
has an all black wing) with black neck and tail make it distinctive.
as Mycteria asiatica, this species was later placed in the genus Xenorhynchus based on morphology. Based on behavioural similarities, Kahl suggested the placement of the species in the genus Ephippiorhynchus, which then included a single species, the Saddle-billed Stork
. This placement of both the Black-necked Stork and Saddle-billed Stork under the same genera was later supported by osteological and behavioural data, and DNA-DNA hybridisation and Cytochrome - b data. The genera Xenorhynchus and Ephippiorhynchus were both erected at the same time, and as first revisor, Kahl selected the latter as the valid genus for the two species. This and the Saddle-billed Stork Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis are the only stork species that show marked sexual dimorphism in iris colour.
Two subspecies are recognized E. a. asiaticus of the Oriental region and E. a. australis of south New Guinea and Australia. Charles Lucien Bonaparte
erected the genus Xenorhynchus in 1855 and placed two species in it, X. indica and X. australis. This treatment was carried on into later works. James Lee Peters
in his 1931 work treated them as subspecies. In 1989, McAllan and Bruce again suggested the elevation of the two subspecies into two species: E. asiaticus or the Green-necked Stork of the Oriental region, and E. australis or the Black-necked Stork of the Australian and New Guinean region. This recommendation was based on the disjunct distributions and differences in the iridescent coloration of the neck which the authors suggested might reflect different behavioral displays. This recommendation has not been followed and a subsequent study did not find consistent differences in the colours. Analysis of the cytochrome b
mitochondrial sequences however showed significant genetic divergence. The genetic distance of a stork presumed to be Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus asiaticus from a confirmed individual of E. a. australis was 2.1%, much greater than the genetic distances between individual storks of the same species. The conservative treatment as two subspecies has been followed in the Australian faunal list by Christidis and Boles.
In India, it is widespread in the west, central highlands, and northern Gangetic plains into the Assam valley, but somewhat rare in peninsular India and Sri Lanka. This distinctive stork is an occasional straggler in southern and eastern Pakistan. .
It extends into Southeast Asia, through New Guinea and into the northern half of Australia
. Compared to other large waterbirds like cranes, spoonbills and other species of storks, Black-necked Storks are least abundant in locations with a high diversity of waterbird species.
The largest population of this species occurs in Australia, where it is found from the Ashburton River, near Onslow, Western Australia across northern Australia to north-east New South Wales. It extends inland in the Kimberley area to south of Halls Creek; in the Northern Territory to Hooker Creek and Daly Waters; and in Queensland inland to the Boulia area and the New South Wales border, with some records as far south as the north-west plains of New South Wales, along the coast of Sydney and formerly bred near the Shoalhaven River. It is rare along the south-east extremity of its range, but common throughout the north. An estimated 1800 occur in the Alligator Rivers region of the Northern Territory, with overall numbers during surveys being low in all seasons.
The largest known breeding population occurs in the largely cultivated landscape of south-western Uttar Pradesh in India. Densities of about 0.099 birds per square kilometre have been estimated in this region made up of a mosaic of cultivated fields and wetlands. About six pairs were found to use the 29 square kilometres of the Keoladeo National Park.
In Sri Lanka, the species is a rare breeding resident, with 4-8 breeding pairs in Ruhuna National Park. It is exceedingly rare, and possibly extinct as a breeding bird, in Bangladesh and Thailand.
Black-necked Storks forage in a variety of natural and artificial wetland habitats. They frequently use freshwater, natural wetland habitats such as lakes, ponds, marshes, flooded grasslands, oxbow lakes, swamps, rivers and water meadows. Freshwater, artificial wetland habitats used by these storks include flooded fallow and paddy fields, wet wheat fields, irrigation storage ponds and canals, sewage ponds, and dry floodplains. In cultivated areas, they prefer natural wetlands to forage in, though flooded rice paddies are preferentially used during the monsoon, likely due to excessive flooding of lakes and ponds. Nests are usually on trees that are located in secluded parts of large marshes or in cultivated fields as in India.
Nest building commences during the peak of the monsoon with most of the nests initiated during September - November, with few new nests built afterward until January. They nest in large and isolated trees on which they build a platform. The nest is large, as much as 3 to 6 feet across and made up of sticks, branches and lined with rushes, water-plants and sometimes with a mud plaster on the edges. Nests may be reused year after year. The usual clutch is four eggs which are dull white in colour and broad oval in shape, but varies from 1-5 eggs. The exact incubation period is not known but is expected to be about 30 days. The chicks hatch with white down which is replaced by a darker grey down on the neck within a week. The scapular feathers emerge first followed by the primaries. The young birds make a chack sound followed by a repeated wee-wee-wee calls. Adult birds take turns at the nest and when one returns to relieve the other, they perform a greeting display with open wings and an up and down movement of the head. Food is brought for the young chicks by the adults and regurgitated onto the nest platform. Adults stop feeding the young at the nest after they are about 3 or 4 months old after which the adults tend to be aggressive. The young birds stay on nearby for about a year but disperse soon. Typically 1-3 chicks fledge from successful nests, but up to four chicks are fledged in years with unusually high rainfall.
At the nest trees, which are typically tall with large boles and a wide-canopy, the birds in Bharatpur were found to compete with Indian White-backed Vultures sometimes failing to nest due to them. While many wetland birds are flushed by birds of prey, these storks are not usually intimidated and on the other hand can be quite aggressive to other large water-birds such as herons and cranes. Adults aggressively defend small depressions of deep water against egrets and herons (at Malabanjbanjdju in Kakadu National Park, Australia), and drying wetland patches against waterbirds such as Spoonbills and Woolly-necked Storks (at Dudhwa National Park, Uttar Pradesh, India).
The Black-necked Stork is a carnivore and its diet includes water-birds such as coots, and Little Grebe
s, Northern Shoveller, Pheasant-tailed Jacana
, a range of aquatic vertebrates including fish, amphibians and reptiles and invertebrates such as crabs and molluscs. They have also been known to prey on the eggs and hatchlings of turtles. In the Chambal river valley they have been observed to locate nests of Kachuga dhongoka
buried under sand (presumably by moistness of the freshly covered nest) and prey on the eggs of the turtle. In Australia, they have been seen foraging at night feeding on emerging nestlings of marine turtles. Stomach content analyses of nine storks in Australia showed their diet to contain crabs, molluscs, insects (grasshoppers and beetles), amphibians, reptiles and birds. The storks had also consumed a small piece of plastic, pebbles, cattle dung, and plant material. Black-necked Storks fed almost exclusively on fish in wetlands located inside managed, protected areas in Australia and India.
They sometimes soar in the heat of the day or rest on their hocks. When disturbed, they may stretch out their necks. Their drinking behaviour involves bending down with open bill and scooping up water with a forward motion followed by raising the bill to swallow water. They sometimes carry water in their bill to chicks at the nest or even during nest building or egg stages.
Like other storks, they are very silent except at nest where they make bill-clattering sounds. The sounds produced are of a low-pitch and resonant and ends with a short sigh. Juveniles fledged from the nests can occasionally call using a mildly-warbling, high-pitched series of whistles, usually accompanied with open, quivering wings. These calls and behavior are directed at adult birds and are a display to solicit food, particularly in drought years when younger birds are apparently unable to find food on their own easily.
Black-necked Storks are largely non-social and are usually seen as single birds, pairs and family groups. Flocks of up to 15 storks have been observed in Australia and India, and appear to form due to local habitat conditions such as drying out of wetlands.
The Black-necked Stork is the type-host for a species of ectoparasitic Ischnocera
n bird louse, Ardeicola asiaticus and a species of endoparasitic trematode Dissurus xenorhynchi.
.
stick. The cornered bird was a ferocious adversary. The ritual was stopped in the 1920s after a young man was killed in the process. Young birds have been known to be taken from the nest for meat in Assam.
In Australia, an aboriginal creation myth describes the origin of the bill of the "jabiru" from a spear that went through the head of a bird. The Binbinga people often consider the meat of the bird as taboo and eating its meat would cause an unborn child to cause the death of its mother. The Jabiru is known as "Karinji" and is the totem
of a group known as the Karinji people.
The difference in iris colour among the sexes was noted in 1865 by A D Bartlett
, the superintendent in charge of the collection at the Zoological Society of London. The similarity in this aspect with the African Saddle-billed Stork was noted by Bartlett and commented on by J. H. Gurney. Charles Darwin who corresponded with Bartlett was well aware of this and used it as one of the examples of sexual dimorphism among birds. John Gould in his handbook to the birds of Australia noted that the meat of the bird "... has a fishy flavour, too over-powerful to admit of its being eaten by any one but a hungry explorer."
Stork
Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family Ciconiidae. They are the only family in the biological order Ciconiiformes, which was once much larger and held a number of families....
family. It is a resident species across South
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
with a disjunct population in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It lives in wetland habitats to forage for a wide range of animal prey. Adult birds of both sexes have a heavy bill and are patterned in white and glossy blacks, but the sexes differ in the colour of the iris. In Australia, it is sometimes called a Jabiru
Jabiru
The Jabiru is a large stork found in the Americas from Mexico to Argentina, except west of the Andes. It is most common in the Pantanal region of Brazil and the Eastern Chaco region of Paraguay. It is the only member of the genus Jabiru...
although that name refers to a stork species found in the Americas. It is one of the few storks that is strongly territorial when feeding.
Description
Plumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
patterns are conspicuous with younger birds differing from adults. Adults have a glossy bluish-black iridescent head, neck, secondary flight feathers and tail; a coppery-brown crown; a bright white back and belly; bill black with a slightly concave upper edge; and bright red legs. The sexes are identical but the adult female has a yellow iris while the adult male has it brown. Juveniles younger than 6 months have a brownish iris; a distinctly smaller and straighter beak; a fluffy appearance; brown head, neck, upper back, wings and tail; a white belly; and dark legs. Juveniles older than 6 months have a mottled appearance especially on the head and neck where the iridescence is partly developed; dark-brown outer primaries; white inner primaries that forms a shoulder patch when the wings are closed; a heavy beak identical in size to adults but still straighter; and dark to pale-pink legs. Like most storks, the Black-necked Stork flies with the neck outstretched, not retracted like a heron
Heron
The herons are long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae. There are 64 recognised species in this family. Some are called "egrets" or "bitterns" instead of "heron"....
. In flight it appears spindly and a black bar running through the white wings (the somewhat similar looking migratory Black Stork
Black Stork
The Black Stork Ciconia nigra is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It is a widespread, but rare, species that breeds in the warmer parts of Europe, predominantly in central and eastern regions. This is a shy and wary species, unlike the closely related White Stork. It is seen in...
has an all black wing) with black neck and tail make it distinctive.
Taxonomy and systematics
First described by John LathamJohn Latham (ornithologist)
John Latham was an English physician, naturalist and author. He was born at Eltham in Kent, and was the eldest son of John Latham, a surgeon there, and his mother was a descendant of the Sothebys, in Yorkshire....
as Mycteria asiatica, this species was later placed in the genus Xenorhynchus based on morphology. Based on behavioural similarities, Kahl suggested the placement of the species in the genus Ephippiorhynchus, which then included a single species, the Saddle-billed Stork
Saddle-billed Stork
The Saddle-billed Stork is a large wading bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. It is a widespread species which is a resident breeder in sub-Saharan Africa from Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya south to South Africa, and in The Gambia, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Chad in west Africa.This is a close...
. This placement of both the Black-necked Stork and Saddle-billed Stork under the same genera was later supported by osteological and behavioural data, and DNA-DNA hybridisation and Cytochrome - b data. The genera Xenorhynchus and Ephippiorhynchus were both erected at the same time, and as first revisor, Kahl selected the latter as the valid genus for the two species. This and the Saddle-billed Stork Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis are the only stork species that show marked sexual dimorphism in iris colour.
Two subspecies are recognized E. a. asiaticus of the Oriental region and E. a. australis of south New Guinea and Australia. Charles Lucien Bonaparte
Charles Lucien Bonaparte
Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano was a French naturalist and ornithologist.-Biography:...
erected the genus Xenorhynchus in 1855 and placed two species in it, X. indica and X. australis. This treatment was carried on into later works. James Lee Peters
James Lee Peters
James Lee Peters was an American ornithologist.Peters was Curator of Birds at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Harvard University...
in his 1931 work treated them as subspecies. In 1989, McAllan and Bruce again suggested the elevation of the two subspecies into two species: E. asiaticus or the Green-necked Stork of the Oriental region, and E. australis or the Black-necked Stork of the Australian and New Guinean region. This recommendation was based on the disjunct distributions and differences in the iridescent coloration of the neck which the authors suggested might reflect different behavioral displays. This recommendation has not been followed and a subsequent study did not find consistent differences in the colours. Analysis of the cytochrome b
Cytochrome b
Cytochrome b/b6 is the main subunit of transmembrane cytochrome bc1 and b6f complexes. In addition, it commonly refers to a region of mtDNA used for population genetics and phylogenetics.- Function :...
mitochondrial sequences however showed significant genetic divergence. The genetic distance of a stork presumed to be Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus asiaticus from a confirmed individual of E. a. australis was 2.1%, much greater than the genetic distances between individual storks of the same species. The conservative treatment as two subspecies has been followed in the Australian faunal list by Christidis and Boles.
Distribution and habitat
It extends into Southeast Asia, through New Guinea and into the northern half of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Compared to other large waterbirds like cranes, spoonbills and other species of storks, Black-necked Storks are least abundant in locations with a high diversity of waterbird species.
The largest population of this species occurs in Australia, where it is found from the Ashburton River, near Onslow, Western Australia across northern Australia to north-east New South Wales. It extends inland in the Kimberley area to south of Halls Creek; in the Northern Territory to Hooker Creek and Daly Waters; and in Queensland inland to the Boulia area and the New South Wales border, with some records as far south as the north-west plains of New South Wales, along the coast of Sydney and formerly bred near the Shoalhaven River. It is rare along the south-east extremity of its range, but common throughout the north. An estimated 1800 occur in the Alligator Rivers region of the Northern Territory, with overall numbers during surveys being low in all seasons.
The largest known breeding population occurs in the largely cultivated landscape of south-western Uttar Pradesh in India. Densities of about 0.099 birds per square kilometre have been estimated in this region made up of a mosaic of cultivated fields and wetlands. About six pairs were found to use the 29 square kilometres of the Keoladeo National Park.
In Sri Lanka, the species is a rare breeding resident, with 4-8 breeding pairs in Ruhuna National Park. It is exceedingly rare, and possibly extinct as a breeding bird, in Bangladesh and Thailand.
Black-necked Storks forage in a variety of natural and artificial wetland habitats. They frequently use freshwater, natural wetland habitats such as lakes, ponds, marshes, flooded grasslands, oxbow lakes, swamps, rivers and water meadows. Freshwater, artificial wetland habitats used by these storks include flooded fallow and paddy fields, wet wheat fields, irrigation storage ponds and canals, sewage ponds, and dry floodplains. In cultivated areas, they prefer natural wetlands to forage in, though flooded rice paddies are preferentially used during the monsoon, likely due to excessive flooding of lakes and ponds. Nests are usually on trees that are located in secluded parts of large marshes or in cultivated fields as in India.
Behaviour and ecology
This large stork has a dance-like display. A pair stalk up to each other face to face, extending their wings and fluttering the wing tips rapidly and advancing their heads until the meet. They then clatter their bills and walk away. The display lasts for a minute and may be repeated several times.At the nest trees, which are typically tall with large boles and a wide-canopy, the birds in Bharatpur were found to compete with Indian White-backed Vultures sometimes failing to nest due to them. While many wetland birds are flushed by birds of prey, these storks are not usually intimidated and on the other hand can be quite aggressive to other large water-birds such as herons and cranes. Adults aggressively defend small depressions of deep water against egrets and herons (at Malabanjbanjdju in Kakadu National Park, Australia), and drying wetland patches against waterbirds such as Spoonbills and Woolly-necked Storks (at Dudhwa National Park, Uttar Pradesh, India).
Little Grebe
The Little Grebe , also known as Dabchick, member of the grebe family of water birds. At 23 to 29 cm in length it is the smallest European member of its family. It is commonly found in open bodies of water across most of its range.-Description:The Little Grebe is a small water bird with a pointed...
s, Northern Shoveller, Pheasant-tailed Jacana
Pheasant-tailed Jacana
The Pheasant-tailed Jacana is a jacana in the monotypic genus Hydrophasianus. Jacanas are a group of waders in the family Jacanidae that are identifiable by their huge feet and claws which enable them to walk on floating vegetation in shallow lakes, their preferred habitat...
, a range of aquatic vertebrates including fish, amphibians and reptiles and invertebrates such as crabs and molluscs. They have also been known to prey on the eggs and hatchlings of turtles. In the Chambal river valley they have been observed to locate nests of Kachuga dhongoka
Kachuga dhongoka
The three-striped roofed turtle is a species of turtle. It was formerly in the genus Kachgua.-Distribution:This species is found in Nepal, Bangladesh, NE India...
buried under sand (presumably by moistness of the freshly covered nest) and prey on the eggs of the turtle. In Australia, they have been seen foraging at night feeding on emerging nestlings of marine turtles. Stomach content analyses of nine storks in Australia showed their diet to contain crabs, molluscs, insects (grasshoppers and beetles), amphibians, reptiles and birds. The storks had also consumed a small piece of plastic, pebbles, cattle dung, and plant material. Black-necked Storks fed almost exclusively on fish in wetlands located inside managed, protected areas in Australia and India.
They sometimes soar in the heat of the day or rest on their hocks. When disturbed, they may stretch out their necks. Their drinking behaviour involves bending down with open bill and scooping up water with a forward motion followed by raising the bill to swallow water. They sometimes carry water in their bill to chicks at the nest or even during nest building or egg stages.
Like other storks, they are very silent except at nest where they make bill-clattering sounds. The sounds produced are of a low-pitch and resonant and ends with a short sigh. Juveniles fledged from the nests can occasionally call using a mildly-warbling, high-pitched series of whistles, usually accompanied with open, quivering wings. These calls and behavior are directed at adult birds and are a display to solicit food, particularly in drought years when younger birds are apparently unable to find food on their own easily.
Black-necked Storks are largely non-social and are usually seen as single birds, pairs and family groups. Flocks of up to 15 storks have been observed in Australia and India, and appear to form due to local habitat conditions such as drying out of wetlands.
The Black-necked Stork is the type-host for a species of ectoparasitic Ischnocera
Ischnocera
The Ischnocera is a large suborder of lice mostly parasitic on birds but including a large family parasitic on mammals. The genus Trichophilopterus is also found on mammals but probably belongs to the "avian Ischnocera" and represents a host switch from birds to mammals...
n bird louse, Ardeicola asiaticus and a species of endoparasitic trematode Dissurus xenorhynchi.
Status and conservation
The Black-necked Stork is widely scattered and nowhere found in high densities, making it difficult for populations to be reliably estimated. The Sri Lankan population has been estimated to be about 50 birds while the species has become very rare in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. The may have become extinct in the Sundaic region. The combined South and Southeast Asian population is placed at about 1000 birds. The Australian population has been optimistically estimated at about 20,000 birds while a more conservative estimate suggests about 10,000 birds. They are threatened by habitat destruction, the draining of shallow wetlands, overfishing, pollution, collision with electricity wires and hunting. Exceedingly few breeding populations with high breeding success are known. It is evaluated as "Near Threatened" on the IUCN Red ListIUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
.
In culture
The Mir Shikars, traditional bird hunters of Bihar in India had a ritual practice that required a young man to capture a Black-necked Stork "Loha Sarang" alive before he could marry. A procession would locate a bird and the bridegroom-to-be would try to catch the bird with a limedBirdlime
Birdlime is an adhesive substance used in trapping birds. It is spread on a branch or twig, upon which a bird may land and be caught. Its use is illegal in many jurisdictions....
stick. The cornered bird was a ferocious adversary. The ritual was stopped in the 1920s after a young man was killed in the process. Young birds have been known to be taken from the nest for meat in Assam.
In Australia, an aboriginal creation myth describes the origin of the bill of the "jabiru" from a spear that went through the head of a bird. The Binbinga people often consider the meat of the bird as taboo and eating its meat would cause an unborn child to cause the death of its mother. The Jabiru is known as "Karinji" and is the totem
Totem
A totem is a stipulated ancestor of a group of people, such as a family, clan, group, lineage, or tribe.Totems support larger groups than the individual person. In kinship and descent, if the apical ancestor of a clan is nonhuman, it is called a totem...
of a group known as the Karinji people.
The difference in iris colour among the sexes was noted in 1865 by A D Bartlett
Abraham Dee Bartlett
Abraham Dee Bartlett was a British zoologist.Bartlett had a small natural history shop near to the British Museum where he sold the products of his taxidermy business....
, the superintendent in charge of the collection at the Zoological Society of London. The similarity in this aspect with the African Saddle-billed Stork was noted by Bartlett and commented on by J. H. Gurney. Charles Darwin who corresponded with Bartlett was well aware of this and used it as one of the examples of sexual dimorphism among birds. John Gould in his handbook to the birds of Australia noted that the meat of the bird "... has a fishy flavour, too over-powerful to admit of its being eaten by any one but a hungry explorer."
Other sources
- Maheswaran, G. and Rahmani, A. R. (2002) Foraging behaviour and feeding success of the black-necked stork (Ephippiorhychus asiaticus) in Dudwa National Park, Uttar Pradesh, India. J. Zool. 258: 189–195.
- Maheswaran, G. (1998) Ecology and behaviour of Black-necked Stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus Latham, 1790) in Dudwa National Park, Uttar Pradesh. Ph.D. thesis, Centre of Wildlife and Ornithology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India.
- Farah Ishtiaq, Sálim Javed, Malcolm C. Coulter, Asad R. Rahmani 2010 Resource Partitioning in Three Sympatric Species of Storks in Keoladeo National Park, India. Waterbirds 33(1):41–49
- Maheshwaran G & AR Rahmani 2008 Foraging technique and prey-handling time in black-necked stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus) Integrative Zoology 3(4):274–279