Saddle Billed Stork Bird

The Saddle-billed Stork  is a large wading bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. It is a widespread species which is a resident breeder in sub-Saharan Africa from Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya south to South Africa, and in The Gambia, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Chad in west Africa.This is a close relative of the widespread Asian Black-necked Stork, the only other member of the genus Ephippiorhynchus.This is a huge bird that regularly attains a height of 150 cm  a length of 142 cm  and a 2.4–2.7 m  wingspan. The male is larger and heavier than the female, with a range of 5.1–7.5 kg . The female is usually between 5 and 7 kg . It is probably the tallest of the storks due in no small part to it extremely long legs . The sexes can be readily distinguished by the golden yellow irises of the female and the brown irises and dangling yellow wattles of the male.It is spectacularly plumaged, identical in male and female when perched but the female shows much more white in the primaries in flight. The head, neck, back, wings, and tail are iridescent black, with the rest of the body and the primary flight feathers being white. Juveniles are browner grey in plumage. The massive bill is red with a black band and a yellow frontal shield . The legs and feet are black with pink knees. On the chest is a bare red patch of skin, whose colour darkens during breeding season.

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