Painted Stork - Gaia Cairo

NAME: Gaia Cairo
COUNTRY: Italy
SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook ( Gaia Cairo)
TITLE: Painted Stork
TECHNIQUE: Ink, pen, acrylic
YEAR: 2015
PUBLISHED: No
DESCRIPTION: This is an illustration of a specimen of Mycteria Leucocephala. This large wading bird is also known with the name of Painted Stork, thanks to the beautiful patterns and colors (pink, orange and yellow) of its plumage.
The Mycteria Leucocephala belongs to the stork family: it is not a migratory bird and only makes short distance movements in some parts of its range in response to changes in weather or food availability or for breeding.

It lives in the tropical wetlands of Asia and India, near freshwater of rivers and lakes surrounded by trees, where it builds the nest and spawns.
The Painted Stork feeds mainly on small fish, which catches with its long bill, half open and submerged in the shallow water. It walks slowly and disturbs the water with its feet to flush fish.

The great colors and the elegance of this bird, have inspired this illustration, in which some elements are realized with a naturalistic technique and others with a stylized and graphic technique.
CATEGORY: Student
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: Yes. As the author of illustration I have given permission for it to be loaded on Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0