The Saddle-Billed Stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis) is a bird  in the Ciconiiformes family.

It has striking colours with an iridescent black head, neck, back, wings, and tail. The rest of the body and primary flight feathers are white. It has a long, red beak (bill) with a black band and a yellow shield called the saddle (like a horse’s saddle). It has  black legs and feet with pink knees.

The male has black eyes and the female has yellow eyes.

It is the largest African stork, with a height of 1.8 metres (6 feet) and a wingspan of 2.7 metres (9 feet).

The Saddle-Billed Stork is found in tropical Africa, where there is water, such as marshes, rivers, lakes, wetlands, and grasslands.

It is a wader – a bird that wades in water.

It eat frogs, fish, crabs, mollusks, lizards, grasshoppers, and young birds.

When it flies, it extends its neck to full length.

The Saddle-Billed Stork does not make a sound. It does not have a syrinx in its voice box. Instead of making a sound with its throat, it rattles its bill to communicate.

It does not migrate – it is a territorial bird. It is solitary, living on its own, or in a pair.

The female Saddle-billed Stork lays one to two eggs, which take 30-35 days to hatch. Both the male and female take turns looking after the young birds until they are fledged (when they can fly), which is about 70-100 days after hatching.

The life expectancy of the Saddle-Billed Stork is about 30 years.

Here is an interesting video that Avibirds sent to readers of Similar but Different in the Animal Kingdom:

Photographer: Martina Nicolls

Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM