Oriental Stork

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Oriental Stork

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Ciconiiformes
Family:	Ciconiidae
Genus:	Ciconia
Species:	C. boyciana

Binomial name

Ciconia boyciana
Swinhoe, 1873

The Oriental Stork, Ciconia boyciana, is a large, white bird with black wing feathers. It is closely related and resembles the European White Stork, of which it was formerly often treated as a subspecies. It is larger than the White Stork, at 1.29 m (4.2 ft) long, a weight of 4.4 kg (9.6 lbs) and a wingspan of 2.22 m (7.3 ft). Unlike its more widespread cousin, the Oriental Stork has red skin around its eye, with a whitish iris and black bill. Both sexes are similar. The female is slightly smaller than male. The young are white with orange bills.

At one time, the Oriental Stork could be found in Japan, China, Korea and Russia. It is now extinct in Japan and South Korea. However, in May 2007 a hatchling was reported in Japan for the first time in 40 years in the wild. It was offspring of two storks who were bred in captivity.^[1] After breeding, the storks migrate to eastern China in September and return in March.

The Oriental Stork is a solitary bird except during the breeding season. Its diets consist mainly of fish, frogs and other small animals. The female usually lays between two to six eggs.

The scientific name commemorates Robert Henry Boyce.

Due to habitat loss and overhunting, the Oriental Stork is classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix I of CITES.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2006). Ciconia boyciana. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a range map, a brief justification of why this species is endangered, and the criteria used