Lesser Adjutant

Common name: Lesser Adjutant

Binomial name: Leptoptilos javanicus

Description: A large 120 cm wading bird in the Ciconiidae stork family. It has a pale head, black upper plumage and white belly. During breeding season, its face is reddish and its neck orange. It retracts its neck in flight. It lacks the pendulous neck pouch seen in a greater adjutant.

Call: Largely silent, known to clatter its bill and hiss while in nest.

Diet: Fish, frogs, reptiles, large invertebrates, small mammals.

Habitat: Freshwater wetlands, coastal wetlands including mangroves and mudflats.

Native countries: Southeast Asia and India.

IUCN Conservation Red List: Vulnerable
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22697713/110481858

Fun facts: It is a taxonomically monotypic bird, containing only one species in its genus. It is usually solitary, except during breeding season.

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  2020. 3. 9 Lesser Adjutant (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve)

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  2020. 9. 22 Lesser Adjutant (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Singapore)

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