The African Pearl Facts you should Know about the Saddle billed Stork.

Saddle billed Stork is from the Stork family, a very tall bird found in sub-saharan Africa. It has noteworthy facts that make it quite a unique bird in its own way.

This is the tallest Stork in the world, with a height of about 150 cm, and a wingspan of over 2.5metres.

It is a very silent bird. Besides the bill cracking noise they make while at their nests, the saddle billed stork is a silent bird. It doesn’t have syrinx. Syrinx is the vocal organ of a bird.

Syrinx is a vibrating cavity found near the breasts of a bird, it’s this syrinx that helps the bird to whistle and sing.

Did you know the Saddle billed Stork is????

• They are not migratory birds. These storks mostly leave in wetlands i.e swamps, rivers and other largely water logged areas. But these will of course migrate once their habitats are destroyed.
• The saddle billed storks have a life expectancy of 12year, but they will live for over 19 years in captivity.
• Their diet has a wide range of items since they are carnivores.
• They mostly eat fish, reptiles, frogs, crabs, salamanders to mention but a few.
• At every breeding time, the saddle billed stork will only lay 2 or 3 eggs and the incubation time will take about 30 to 35 days.
• Both patent storks will sit at the nest till the incubation time is done.
• On hatching, the parent birds will feed the baby stork for 70 to 100 days before it’s left to begin feeding itself.
• The saddle billed storks don’t actually breed every year. So the baby stork will be in company of its parents for 1 to 2 years.
• It is a shy and solitary bird. In most occasions, if you don’t see it alone then you’ll see it in a pair but you’ll rarely find this bird in a group of 10 or above.
• A pair of them will stay together always because they form a permanent bond and at very breeding period, they will breed at the same nest unless the habitat is destroyed in anyway or another then it will have to relocate to another place.
• Its colours make it completely and extraordinarily a beautiful bird. It’s body is white and the feathers are in a multiple of colours.
• Most part of the body is black and white while it’s bill is red, black and also has a yellow saddle at the beak.
• Although both the males and females are in the same size, one of the ways you can differentiate them is by looking at the eyes.
• The females have yellow eyes whereas the males have dark brown eyes.
• Their height helps them easily see predators before they get to where they are hence also being an advantage for protection.