A few days ago while I was walking in the park around the lake I happened to notice a painted stork(Mycteria leucocephala). These are large birds with black and white markings on their wings and pink markings on their tail feathers. I have never ever seen a lonely painted stork before. These pink marking seem like someone added some brush stokes to the back of these birds. Perhaps this is where these birds get their name from.
These birds are always found in groups. A few years ago I visited a small village in Karnataka, India to see colonies of painted storks. There were hundreds of birds in that village fiercely protected by the villagers.
These storks are slowly dwindling in numbers and are now on the threatened list of birds. This made me wonder if this was the reason why this bird was alone on this lake. Another sad fact is that even though Bangalore has many lakes these lakes are slowly covered in filth and grime and getting dry. It would be a sad day to see these birds go away for good from my city.
My morning walks are made special by the sighting of birds such as these. The sciatica pain in my legs makes walking a burdensome task and nature with amazing wonders like birds, insects and animals make my day almost perfect. Just sighting these creatures bring me so much happiness.
It was about 6.30 in the morning when I reached the park the birds were a bit sluggish then. The walkers were briskly walking all around but this didn't seem to inspire the birds in the least bit. The painted stork seemed to be the slowest of all.
After a while, very sluggishly he waded into the shallow waters to fish, opening his huge beak and searching the waters. The other birds like the grey heron and the cormorants diving near by seemed to gobble one fish after another but this huge guy didn't get any.
Then he preened around for a bit, groomed himself for a while. This was his main activity for a good twenty minutes. I thought he was being so full of himself. I guess I was dead wrong, I didn't fully understand his need to groom himself and look pretty even though there were no ladies around. I just got a few shots of this big guy grooming himself.
It was only later that I realized that personal grooming was as important to him as it is to us, cleanliness never hurts, right?
He stood frozen for a while before he resumed fishing. This too was a halfhearted attempt at getting breakfast.
He waded for a bit in the shallow waters once in a while dipping his long beak in the waters. I was really not convinced that he made a wholehearted attempt even once. I have seen these birds fly around and dive like expert fishers never really missing their prey.
Perhaps he was a bit dejected, maybe his loneliness was getting to him or maybe he was just too sleepy and wasn't really in need of a meal. Either way as long as I was there I didn't see him catch a single fish. Each step he took seemed to be taken with so much effort and ever so slowly. It was rather funny to watch him hold his legs up in the air for a few minutes before he took his next step.
I guess that day was his lazy day. He didn't want to exert too much energy then. Who am I to expect him to be like the other birds- quick, active and successful? Each person's idea of success is different, perhaps he had already reached his goals and nothing really mattered to him anymore. Perhaps he just understood life!
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