Marabou Stork (Marabout d'Afrique)

      It is perhaps better that you have lunch before continuing with this account of what might be, by any reasonable standard, one of the ugliest birds in the world!

     I give you the Marabou Stork (Leptoptilos crumeniferus).

     It has been referred to by several authors as 'a gaunt-looking object at the best of times', 'the world's ugliest bird', 'entirely lacking any charm', 'stiff-jointed and dried up as though it had lived for a thousand years', or, 'a dirty old man with a skin disease of the scalp.'

     Ironically, it was when watching a couple of particularly loathsome politicians on television a few nights ago, that my thoughts turned to my encounters with this species in Ethiopia in 2014.

     The pair above might be deemed salutary by the standards of the current batch of political ne'er-do-wells, male and female alike.

     Unlike politicians, however, they are not usually first at the trough, and often wait for other scavengers to do the tough work of tearing into a carcass, daintily gathering whatever morsels they can glean. 

     They may often be found foraging with African Sacred Ibis (Threkiornis aethiopicus), and can pick off insects in the most delicate fashion, despite their huge bill.

       This female is perhaps searching for whole vertebrate food to feed her nestlings. Studies have shown that only in this manner can the developing young get enough calcium to successfully reach adulthood. 

     Adults also regurgitate water for their young to ward off dehydration.

     As you may gather, they are dedicated parents.

     When I saw Marabous, they were often in association with Great White Pelicans (Pelecanus onocrotalus).

     Both species, as well as Sacred Ibis and Hamerkop (Scopus umbretta) showed no hesitation to congregate with people wherever the opportunity for food scraps presented itself.

Hamerkop

     The people cleaning the fish appeared totally indifferent to the hundreds of birds milling around them, squabbling over the food scraps tossed their way. They have probably gathered together in this manner for hundreds of years.

     Some females foraged at the water's edge, doubtless seeking whole fish to feed to their young. A sudden snap of the bill announced success.

     However ungainly Marabous may appear on the ground, they have complete mastery of the air, soaring effortlessly on the thermals generated by the convection currents rising from the hot African soil

     Marabou Storks both construct their nests, and roost high in trees, sometimes in sizable colonies.

     It is not the prettiest bird in the world, and is never going to initiate the ooh and ah reaction that songbirds do, but give a kind thought to them anyway.

     Like all of us they are just trying to maintain a home and raise the kids. Surely that merits our admiration - or at the very least our understanding and sympathy. Long live the Maribou Stork!

Marabou Stork - Only a Mother Could Love One!

Marabou Stork Leptopilos crumenifer

Lakes Ziway and Awassa, Ethiopia

12 January 2014

    Marabou Stork is a strange and fearsome-looking creature indeed. It looks as though it was put together by someone with a malevolent streak. Neither its appearance, nor its behaviour, do much to endear it to humans, but it fills its niche in nature with finessse and expertise, and being pleasing to our eyes is hardly part of its role. Where it surpasses all of our expectations is when it takes to the air revealing itself to be a graceful and consummate flier.

Male and female

Female

With Africa Sacred Ibis Threskiornis aethiopicus

Waiting for fish scraps

Ever the Opportunist

Lunch Al Fresco - Vulture Style

Lunch Al Fresco - Vulture Style

13 January 2014

    Along the road between Dodola and Goba, Ethiopia, we came across the spectacle shown below. Wherever one travels in Ethiopia one sees huge numbers of donkeys, generally of a very small race, being used as beasts of burden for every manner of cargo imaginable, often bearing loads which would seem impossible for so small an animal. I suspect that the lives of these creatures are neither long nor pleasant and one had obviously perished at the side of the road.

   Three species of vultures were feeding on it, Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus, White-backed Vulture Gyps africanus and Rüppell's Vulture Gyps rueppelli. As can be seen in the picture below, the small Hooded Vulture has to wait its turn on the periphery before darting in to snatch whatever morsels it can before being driven off by the larger, more aggressive species.

    It was quite incredible to see the sheer strength of the neck muscles of the large vultures. As they thrust into the carcass they were able to lift the head of the dead donkey clear off the ground.

    No doubt, within a relatively short time the carcass would be reduced to nothing but bones. Too bad a Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus would not be in an urban environment to take advantage of it.

    Waiting patiently off to the side, anxious for a place at the table, was a Marabou Stork Leptoptilos crumenifer and several Pied Crows Corvus albus.