Species profile
About the yellow-billed stork
The yellow-billed stork feeds in a way that needs no visibility at all. It walks slowly through shallow water with its bill held open below the surface, stirring the mud with one foot, and snaps shut in about 25 milliseconds when anything touches the bill — one of the fastest reactions recorded in any vertebrate.
It is a common and handsome bird of Tanzanian lakes and floodplains: white, with black flight feathers, a bright yellow decurved bill and bare crimson facial skin that intensifies in the breeding season, when the plumage takes on a rose flush.
Life in the wild
Behavior & relationships
Behavior
Tactile feeder, wading with the bill submerged and one foot paddling to flush prey. Soars on thermals in loose flocks between wetlands.
Social life
Feeds singly or in loose parties, breeds in mixed colonies with herons, ibises and other storks in waterside trees.
What makes it remarkable
Special features
A bill-snap reaction time of roughly 25 milliseconds, and a rose-pink flush across the wings when breeding.
