What to Know About the Yellow-billed Stork in Uganda?

The Yellow-Billed Stork in Uganda is one of the African Uganda Bird Species seen during Uganda Birding Tours. It belongs to the mycteriini tribe just like the Mycteria and Anastomus, kingdom-Animalia, phylum-Chordata, class-Aves, order-Ciconiiformes, family-Cinoniidae, genus-Mycteria and M. ibis.

Its has a unique bill and feeding techniques with its feeding tactical behavior, quite big in size with the length between 95-105cm, wingspan; 150-165cm, the male yellow-billed stork weighs around 2300g while the female can have 1900g.

How Does the Yellow-billed Stork in Uganda Look Like?

A yellow-billed stork is a large stork, it has pinkish grey-white plumage while its flight plumage and tail are black.

It has a long greyish-white neck. In the breeding period, it develops a naked red facial skin, up to beyond the yes.

This bird`s wing-coverts and back are tinged pink. Its bill is brightly yellow, thick at the base and long, a little curved at the tip.

Its eyes are dark brown while its legs and feet are long, pink in color. The male and female are similar however the male is slightly larger than the female.

The chicks are dark brown with white underparts and pale grey eyes.

How Does the Yellow-billed Stork in Uganda Sing and Make Calls?

At breeding period, this bird gives a long loud, thick sound like a squeaky hinge and jeers, low sound and whining calls around the nest.

Where Does the Yellow-billed Stork in Uganda Live?

The Yellow-billed Stork hangs around waterlogged areas like lakes, rivers, swamps, estuaries, lagoons, and marine mudflats.

They frequent forested areas however they can also live in savanna woodland. Yellow-billed stork is a social bird and sometimes nests in towns and human habitations.

How Does the Yellow-billed Stork in Uganda Behave?

The yellow-billed stork duels in variety of places and does mostly local movements, depending on the seasons.

During flight, it projects the neck and feet while soaring with its long-broad wings. It is normally seen resting on the sandbanks with other large wading birds like spoonbills, and herons especially when it’s not scavenging. They are very gregarious birds and usually form colonies in trees.

How Does the Yellow-billed Stork in Uganda Feed?

The yellow-billed stork is a carnivore and swallows small fish in water, aquatic insects, crabs, warms, crustaceans, frogs and rarely it can feed on small mammals and birds.

For hidden techniques, the yellow-billed stork has a technique of foot-stirring to disturb them out of the sand.

It also follows the back of big mammals like hippopotamus and crocodiles to catch the preys disturbed by them.

The yellow billed stork feeds by wading through shallow water, searching with its long open bill and senses the prey by touch.

Once its bill touches the target, a first snap-bill reaction occurs and the mandibles are shut, the head is then raised up to swallow the prey.

How Does the Yellow-billed Stork in Uganda Breed?

This bird is very social especially during the breeding season. Yellow-billed stork has a range of courtship display.

The nest-sites are chosen by the male while the female attempts to approach. A range of courtship displays include;

• Display preening-where the male fakes to clean its wings often times side by side using its bill. But in actual sense the bill doesn’t touch any feathers.
• The male bird perches on the nest-site and regularly bends over to hold and release twigs from the foundations while the head and neck are in motion side-by-side
• The female yellow-billed stork displays by balancing postures. It moves while the body horizontally as it gets her wings closer to the male. The female may also start gaping the male when they are near each other, it opens the bill slightly while the neck is held upwards.

Once the male accepts the female, she enters the nest-site with the wings closed and the male may welcome her by continued “display preening”.

While in the nest, copulation occurs as the male continues bill-clapping. These birds form a new pair every year.

How Does the Yellow-billed Stork in Uganda Nest?

The yellow-billed stork nest during the dry season in the dry areas. Provided there`s abundant food resources.

It next in trees with herons and other water bird species in mixed colonies which may constitute between 10-20 pairs. The adults together build the smallish nest up in trees.

How Does The Yellow-billed Stork in Uganda Reproduce?

The female yellow-billed stork lays between 2-4 eggs. Incubation takes about 30days and it is done by both adults.

Chicks are hatched with white down, their parents feed them by regurgitated fish and water in the open bills of the fish.

Fledging takes between 50-55 days after hatching and thereafter, they leave the nest. Chicks are allowed for about more 1-3weeks are they are fed by their parents and finally become independent.

They mature sexually at the age of 3 years.

What is Threatening the Yellow-billed Stork in Uganda?

The yellow-billed stork is a tolerant bird to natural habitat changes however its facing poaching and their population is declining.