Big Billed Birds Of Nairobi National Park

As I approached a dam in the forest, I slowed the vehicle down to a crawl speed in the hope that my arrival would not alarm any wildlife that might be at the water. My “slow-go” effort was thankfully rewarded. A magnificent male saddle-billed stork was standing in the shallow water near the edge of the dam. This Saddle-billed stork was hunting for delicious aquatic snacks in the reeds. He was so focused on catching food that I was virtually ignored. Many storks have a rapid strike technique by using their long neck in a recoil type almost whiplash action that is very fast when striking to catch prey. Over a short period of time, there was quite a few successful prey catches, including a frog.

To see a saddlebill in the wild is always a thrill, as they are majestically impressive and strikingly colourful. These huge birds regularly attain a height of 150 cm or more, a length of 142 cm and a 2.4–2.7 m wingspan. The male is larger and heavier than the female. In many parts of Africa these storks are rare, so to actually have them in the Nairobi National Park is special.

There are a number of large-billed birds that are found in the park, apart from the saddle-billed stork, there are also many other types of interesting storks such as marabou storks, African openbill storks, yellow-billed storks, white storks, black storks and woolly necked storks.

The marabou storks are very frequent in the Athi Basin, they thrive on carrion. The marabou stork is a massive bird: large specimens are thought to reach a height of 152 cm and a weight of 9 kg, with huge a huge wingspan of about 3.2m they are amongst the largest birds with the largest wingspan in the world. They are sometimes called the “undertaker birds” due to their shape from behind, cloak-like wings and back, skinny white legs, and sometimes a large white mass of comical-looking “hair”.The nearby abattoir in the proximity of Athi river and the large acacia “fever” trees along the Mbagathi river provide the almost perfect conditions for them to thrive in the park. Although they are definitely not regal in their looks they are definitely “beaugly” in the ways, and can be interesting to watch for a while. I have watched many marabou storks squabble over the most ridiculously small morsels of food.

Less frequently seen species also includes the smaller stork species known as African openbill stork. In recent months we have been pleasantly surprised to note that a small flock of about fifteen have been seen often at the Athi Basin dam. The African openbill (Anastomus lamelligerus) is a species of stork that is native to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa. It is a bird of shallow wetlands and can be found wherever its molluscan prey is available. A few weeks ago we sat quietly at the Athi dam and let nature come to us over a period of about 4 hours. Part of that wonderful experience was watching the behaviour of the openbill storks with the almost comical posed looks, especially when they open their large bills, it looks almost like they are smiling. The flock seemed to have the most success when they hunted together for aquatic snacks on the shallows of the shoreline.

I know of some people that visit the park for the prime purpose of going on a “birding safari”, there are so many hundreds of species to see at all times of the year. Stopping at a wetland and watching the incredible variety of birds that God has created, is very rewarding and helps relieve stress.. The big bill birds also commonly known as storks are really worth watching for a while. Why not try it next time, it can be very rewarding!