Painted Stork - Conservation

Conservation

Painted Storks being large and colourful birds and their nesting colonies become centres of tourist interest. Particularly well-known nest site are those that are close to human settlements and these include the colony in the south Indian villages of Kokrebellur and Veerapura. In Kokrebellur, the birds nest within the trees in the village forming mixed nesting colonies with the Spot-billed Pelican. The local people provide security to these birds during the brief nesting season when the birds arrive in October leaving the village in a couple of months.

Another well-known colony that has been studied since the 1960s includes one inside the Delhi Zoological Park where the birds arrive about 30–40 days after the onset of the Monsoons in Delhi. This colony is made up of 300 to 600 wild birds that make use of the trees within the artificial islands inside the zoo. Uppalapadu village near Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, Kolleru and Ranganathittu are among the many other breeding colonies known from southern India.

Captive birds are known to breed readily when provided with nesting materials and platforms. The largest secure population is found in India. Birds in Pakistan along the Indus river system are endangered and chicks at their nests are taken away for the bird trade. The species was nearly decimated in Thailand while small populations are known from Cambodia and Vietnam.