A child stands proudly beneath a Greater Adjutant statue on India’s Independence Day.

In 2006, Arvind Mishra, with the Indian Birds Conservation Network, discovered that Greater Adjutants were breeding in Bhagalpur District.

Arvind Mishra transformed another Indian community’s disgust for the huge storks into a strong desire to preserve them.

Inspiring conservation efforts in India and Cambodia are giving this species a fighting chance against extinction.

Last year, she counted 150 Greater Adjutant nests compared to around 30 in 2007, and she estimates there are now about 550 Greater Adjutants in Kamrup District.

Working in the villages of Kamrup District in the Brahmaputra Valley — one of the few places on earth where this bird still exists — Barman found very few Greater Adjutant nests.

In his effort to encourage tolerance for the animals, Mishra decided to associate the Greater Adjutant with the immense mythical bird, known as Garuda, who acts as the steed for the god, Vishnu.

It regularly supports more than 20,000 waterbird individuals in the dry season, including globally threatened species such as the endangered greater adjutant (Leptoptilos dubius) and the vulnerable sarus crane (Grus antigone).