Oriental Stork

Oriental Stork (Ciconia boyciana) is a very large white stork with black flight feathers, a long black bill, red legs and bare red skin around the eye. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It forages in marshes, rice fields and shallow water for fish, frogs and other animals, nesting in large stick structures placed high in trees or on platforms. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).