lesser adjutant

The Lesser Adjutant is a large bird of the family Ciconiidae. This species is listed as Vulnerable with declines due to hunting pressure. Both sexes are similar. The adult has dark slaty blue-black upperparts and white underparts. The white neck base is spotted black. Underwing and undertail are black. Head and neck are bare. The neck is yellow and sparsely feathered dark grey. The head shows whitish forehead and crown, with bony plate on head top. The head sides are vinous-tinged, and become brighter during the breeding season. The hind crown shows some curly feathers. The long, thick beak is greyish to horn-coloured. Eyes are pale blue to bluish-white. Long legs and feet are greyish-blue. In non-breeding plumage, the bare parts are duller. The immature shows more feathering on neck and the upperparts are duller.

Usually found singly, and is very shy. Forages by walking slowly on dry ground or in shallow water and grabs prey with its bill. Marshes, forest pools, flooded fields, lakes and drying-up river beds. Globally threatened.

The Lesser Adjutant feeds mainly on mudskippers of genus Periophtalmus. It forages by walking in mudflats and all types of wetlands, searching for preys such as frogs, crustaceans and reptiles. It also catches grasshoppers, small rodents and often takes carrion.
It probes into the mud with its long bill and often thrusts head and neck to reach the preys.

The Lesser Adjutant is usually silent, but it can produce various vocalizations and noises at the breeding sites. The birds of the genus Leptoptilos squeal and moo. These sounds usually accompany the typical "up-down" greeting display.

The lesser adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus) is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. Like other members of its genus it has a bare neck and head. It is however more closely associated with wetland habitats where it is solitary and is less likely to scavenge than the related greater adjutant. It is a widespread species found from India through Southeast Asia to Java. A large stork with an upright stance a bare head and neck without a pendant pouch it has a length of 87&ndash93 cm (34&ndash37 in) (outstretched from bill-to-tail measurement) weighs from 4 to 5.71 kg (8.8 to 12.6 lb) and stands about 110&ndash120 cm (43&ndash47 in) tall. The only confusable species is the greater adjutant but this species is generally smaller and has a straight upper bill edge (culmen) measuring 25.8&ndash30.8 cm (10.2&ndash12.1 in) in length with a paler base and appears slightly trimmer and less hunch-backed. The skullcap is paler and the upper plumage is uniformly dark appearing almost all black. The nearly naked head and neck have a few scattered hair-like feathers. The upper shank or tibia is grey rather than pink the tarsus measures 22.5&ndash26.8 cm (8.9&ndash10.6 in). The belly and undertail are white. Juveniles are a duller version of the adult but have more feathers on the nape. During the breeding season the face is reddish and the neck is orange. The larger median wing coverts are tipped with copper spots and the inner secondary coverts and tertials have narrow white edging. The wing chord measures 57.5&ndash66 cm (22.6&ndash26.0 in) in length. Like others in the genus they retract their necks in flight. In flight the folded neck can appear like the pouch of the greater adjutant. Males and females appear similar in plumage but males tend to be larger and heavier billed. The lesser adjutant is often found in large rivers and lakes inside well wooded regions in freshwater wetlands in agricultural areas and coastal wetlands including mudflats and mangroves. It is found in India Nepal Sri Lanka Bangladesh (a colony with about 6 nests and 20 individuals was discovered near Thakurgaon in 2011) Myanmar Thailand Vietnam Malaysia Laos Singapore Indonesia and Cambodia. The largest population is in Cambodia. In India they are mainly distributed in the eastern states of Assam West Bengal and Bihar. It may occur as a vagrant on the southern edge of Bhutan. They are extremely rare in southern India. In Sri Lanka they are found in lowland areas largely within protected areas though they also use forested wetlands and crop fields. In Nepal surveys in eastern districts had suggested that they preferentially use forested patches with small wetlands largely avoiding crop fields. Additional studies however indicate that breeding densities of Lesser Adjutant in central Nepal can be high even on croplands.