Ciconiidae
ciconiiformes
Birds
30-35 days
1-5
ESB
Its diet consists mainly of fish 15-30 cm long and weighing more than 500 g, as well as crustaceans, frogs, reptiles, small mammals, mollusks and insects.
12 years in the wild and 19 in captivity.
They are usually found alone or in pairs on the edge of rivers and are easily recognizable by their long, brightly colored beak. Its plumage is iridescent black with white primary flight feathers.
The male is larger and heavier than the female. Additionally, males have brown eyes while females have golden yellow eyes.
They are silent except for the crocodile they make with their beak to show excitement.
They do not form reproductive colonies, but rather the couple builds a large nest with branches and sticks at the top of a tree, which can reach 2 m in diameter and where the female lays between 1 and 5 eggs, generally 3 or 4, which will be incubated by both the father and the mother for approximately one month.
To avoid overheating, it pants vigorously and ruffles its sun-heated outer feathers away from its body. Adults fill their beaks with water regularly to cool their chicks or eggs. They even defecate on their paws to leave them covered in white feces.
