Greater Adjutant

Another new bird species for me!

This is a lesser adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus), not a greater, sadly!

That's what the sign said!

So what's the difference?

Jackwow said:

So what's the difference?

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I look at a few things, but I'm not sure if it's how others differentiate. If the bird has a pendulous neck pouch then it's a greater. If you can clearly see the light 'bony plate' appearance limited to the top of the skull, it's likely to be a lesser, and there are meant to be differences in bills, but I haven't come across a reliable method to differentiate the species on bill alone. I also find looking at the head and neck easier than just the plumage.

Thanks for these great photos from Laos. Are the white elephant and Truong Son muntjac still around? Did you see any of their small cat / primate morphs?

Thanks devilfish.

Here's the sign at the exhibit, where I just noticed that the birds were a gift from Myanmar.

devilfish said:

Thanks for these great photos from Laos. Are the white elephant and Truong Son muntjac still around? Did you see any of their small cat / primate morphs?

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Re. small cat, see my response to Arizona Docent in Tiger?!

Didn't see any Triong Som muntjac, although that doesn't mean they weren't there.

Re. white elephant, I only saw one elephant which was giving rides. I only took a picture of its eye!

Do you happen to have any other photo of the stork?

I find the easiest way to tell the Greater from Lesser is by looking at the wings. When folded, the Greaters' wings usually have a lighter grey band of feathers. Lessers have uniformly dark grey wings.

I'm more inclined to believe the bird in the photo is a Lesser.

mstickmanp said:

Do you happen to have any other photo of the stork?

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Lots, I'll upload a few later.

mstickmanp said:

Do you happen to have any other photo of the stork?

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Here's a few more.