Why open billed?

[Roopak Gangadharan]

The Asian open billed stork is a resident breeder found mostly in agricultural fields, wetlands and near other water bodies. The small gap between the mandibles gives the bird its name and is an unmistakable ID tip. It is believed the gap helps the bird hold Apple snails which forms its primary diet. In Malayalam the bird is called “ Namachee Oodan” which literally means Snail breaker ( it also has a similar name in Bengali if Im not wrong) . The extensive use of pesticides which is fast wiping out Apple snails in most cultivated lands forms a major threat to the future of this species.



Cropped image (sorry for the quality) ,500D, 55-250, 250mm, F5.6, 1/320, ISO-200

[Bibhav Behera]

I didnt know the reason for the open beak, thanks for sharing the info on that. The placement of the bird in the frame in a square crop isnt exactly very appealing. Giving more space to the background and more space in the right in terms of a rectangular crop would have been better in my opinion. Thanks for sharing.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Roopak,
Nice information. I agree that a rectangular crop ie. more space at the right would have been better in this case. Good to know the Malaylam name of Open billed stork. I have included it in the tags. The major books give the names of birds in a few Indian languages. It is important, that we try to mention the names in all the languages. That would be enriching.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Mrudul Godbole]

Thanks for the detailed information. It is surely interesting to know the reason of its open bill. The snail in the beak is plus. Agree about the composition. Thanks for sharing.

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Nice info Roopak, agree about the comments made
tfs

[Mohan Raj]

Roopak, It is good to see a new bird.
TFS.
:thumbup:

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.Will try and do better next time around.
Roopak

[Sudipto Roy]

It's called Shamuk Khol in Bengali. Shamuk means snail and khol means shell. Regarding your "sorry for the quality" comment, I think you could push down the f stop a couple of notches, though that would have sacrificed your shutter speed proportionately. With greyish birds and greyish background, metering and exposure is always a challenge.