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Ciconia abdimii

Ciconia abdimii , Photo: Michael Lahanas

Cladus: Eukaryota
Supergroup: Opisthokonta
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Classis: Aves
Subclassis: Carinatae
Infraclassis: Neornithes
Parvclassis: Neognathae
Ordo: Ciconiiformes
Familia: Ciconiidae
Genus: Ciconia
Species: Ciconia abdimii

Name

Ciconia abdimii Lichtenstein, 1823

Reference

Verzeichniss der Doubletten des Zooligeschen Museums der ... Universitat ... Berlin p.76

Vernacular names
Internationalization
Česky: Čáp simbil
Polski: Bocian białobrzuchy
Türkçe: Abdim leyleği

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The Abdim's Stork, (Ciconia abdimii) also known as White-bellied Stork, is a black stork with grey legs, red knees and feet, grey bill and white underparts. It has red facial skin in front of eye and blue skin near the bill in breeding season. It is the smallest species of stork (but is still a large bird), at 73 cm (29 in) and a weight of just over 1 kg (2.2 lbs). The female lays two to three eggs and is slightly smaller than male.

The Abdim's Stork is distributed to open habitats throughout Eastern Africa, from Ethiopia south to South Africa. Its diet consists mainly of locusts, caterpillars and other large insects,as well as small reptiles,small frogs,mice,eggs,and crabs.

The smallest stork, this species is welcomed and protected by local African belief as a harbinger of rain and good luck. The name commemorates the Turkish Governor of Wadi Halfa in Sudan Bey El-Arnaut Abdim (1780-1827).

Widespread and common throughout its large range, the Abdim's Stork is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

References

* BirdLife International (2008). Ciconia abdimii. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 3 February 2009. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

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Source: Wikispecies, Wikipedia: All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License