This is a huge bird that regularly attains a height of, a length of and a wingspan. The male is larger and heavier than the female, with a range of, with a mean mass of. The female is usually between, with a mean mass of. It is probably the tallest of the storks, due in no small part to it extremely long legs. The long bill measures from. The sexes can be readily distinguished by the golden yellowirises of the female and the brown irises and dangling yellow wattles of the male. It is spectacularly plumaged; both the female and male appear identical 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 hocks. On the chest is a bare red patch of skin, whose colour darkens during breeding season.
Behaviour
They are silent except for bill-clattering at the nest. Like most storks, these fly with the neck outstretched, not retracted like a heron; in flight, the large heavy bill is kept drooping somewhat below belly height, giving these birds a very unusual appearance to those who see them for the first time. To experienced birdwatchers on the other hand, this makes them easily recognizable even if seen from a distance. It has been suggested that due to the large size and unusual appearance in flight, this species is the basis for the "big bird" and kongamato cryptids.
Habitat
At the continental scale, saddle-billed storks preferred protected areas that have a higher extent of open water compared to areas without the storks. Some of these trends may, however, be due to a bias in coverage by ornithologists of safer areas such as national parks and protected swamps that afford easier accessibility and comforts.
Breeding
The saddle-billed stork breeds in forested waterlands and other floodlands in tropical lowland. It builds a large, deep stick nest in a tree, laying one or two white eggs weighing about each. It does not form breeding colonies, and is usually found alone or in pairs. The incubation period is 30–35 days, with another 70 – 100 days before the chicks fledge.
Food and feeding
The saddle-billed stork, like most of its relatives, feeds mainly on fish, frogs and crabs, but also on small birds and reptiles. They move in a deliberate and stately manner as they hunt, in a similar way to the larger herons.
This bird is represented in an Ancient Egyptian hieroglyph that had the phonetic value "bꜣ": G29 Its description is often erroneously given as "jabiru", which is a South American relative. The Third Dynasty pharaoh Khaba incorporated this hieroglyph in his name. The first depictions of the species come from depictions during the Late Predynastic Period, and trends in depictions have been useful to deduce a decline in the species' range from ancient Egypt likely due to intensifying urbanisation and an increasingly arid climate.
