Saddle-billed Stork

Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis

Other Names

  Saddlebill, African Jabiru   Jabiru de Sénégal, Jabiru d'Afrique   Sattelstorch   Jabirú Africano, Cigüeña ensillada   Afrikansk jabiru   Zadelbekooievaar   Mitteria del Senegal

World: Africa from Kenya and Uganda south to South Africa and in Gambia, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Chad, Sudan and Ethiopia

Kenya: Mostly absent from the North with only occasional sightings even at Lake Turkana and thinly distributed even in the south and the Rift Valley where it is most common. Usually found below 1500m it can occur as high as 3000m and has bred as high as 1900m at Lake Naivasha

The largest of the African storks, very tall and is usually seen singly or in pairs near open water, the large brightly coloured bill makes it easy to recognise, although the saddle is absent in juvenile and immature birds. The bird in the photograph is a female, the male has dark brown eyes and small red wattles at the base of the bill. Can usually be seen in the Maasai Mara, Amboseli or on one of the Rift lakes