Water Birds Bird Least Concern (IUCN)

Marabou Stork

Leptoptilos crumenifer

The "undertaker bird" — bald, hunched and enormous, with one of the largest wingspans of any land bird.

Where to look: Serengeti National Park Ngorongoro Conservation Area Lake Manyara and Tarangire national parks Mikumi, Ruaha and Nyerere national parks
Best time: Year-round; most numerous around dry-season kills and at the January–March calving in the southern Serengeti.
Habitat: Open savanna, lake and river margins, floodplains, rubbish tips and the edges of towns.

In the field

Photograph coming soon

We publish our own photographs rather than stock pictures, so this profile is waiting on a marabou stork image from one of our guides. It will be added as soon as we have one worth showing — the field notes below are complete in the meantime.

Species profile

About the marabou stork

The marabou is impossible to mistake and hard to love at first sight: a bare pink head and neck, a huge wedge-shaped bill, a dangling inflatable throat pouch and a hunched, cloaked stance. Its wingspan can approach three metres, among the greatest of any land bird.

It is, however, one of Africa's most valuable scavengers, clearing carrion alongside the vultures and processing waste in and around towns. On the Serengeti plains marabous stand at the edge of every kill, waiting their turn, and they will also fish and take flamingo chicks at the soda lakes.

Life in the wild

Behavior & relationships

Behavior

Soars to great heights on thermals to locate carcasses. Stands motionless for long periods and dominates other scavengers by size at a carcass.

Social life

Gregarious. Feeds in groups and nests colonially in tall trees, sometimes hundreds of pairs together.

What makes it remarkable

Special features

A bare head that stays clean while feeding inside carcasses, and an inflatable throat sac used in display and thermoregulation.

At a glance

Wildlife group: Water Birds
Type: Bird
Family: Ciconiidae
Habitat: Open savanna, lake and river margins, floodplains, rubbish tips and the edges of towns.
Tanzania locations: Serengeti National Park
Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Lake Manyara and Tarangire national parks
Mikumi, Ruaha and Nyerere national parks
Sighting availability: Common and conspicuous around carcasses, lakeshores and settlements.
Best time to see: Year-round; most numerous around dry-season kills and at the January–March calving in the southern Serengeti.

Where to see it

Browse every profile recorded in one of these destinations.

Food & life cycle

Diet: Scavenger and opportunist. Carrion, scraps, fish, frogs, insects, rodents, and the eggs and chicks of other birds including flamingos.
Gestation / incubation: Incubation about 30 days; two or three eggs in a large stick nest.
Lifespan: Around 25 years in the wild.