A Saddle-Billed Stork and its dangling wattles

The Saddle-Billed Stork or Saddlebill, Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis, is a truly huge bird. It’s 4′ 9″ to 4′ 11″ tall. That’s taller than my old girlfriend. Its wingspan is 7 ‘ 10″ in to 8’ 10″.

The females have yellow eyes, while the males have dark eyes and dangling yellow wattles (those funny flaps which hang from their faces). I can just see dangling wattles on this one, and the eyes are dark. It’s clearly a male on nest-building duty.

There’s one flying through this beautiful woodland in the Masai Mara and it is on a mission. Its nest is nearby and it’s got a stick in its beak, but it can’t fly directly up there. It has to do a large sweeping curve to gain the altitude without excessive effort.

My guide, Johnson, and I sit in our open-sided car admiring it as it comes back again and again for more material.

Their nest is a multi-year one so it’s worth the huge investment.

I wish them luck in raising their chick as we drive slowly away over the rutted ground.