Marabou Stork
The most distinctive feature of the Marabou is the nearly bald, spotted, scab-encrusted head, with its huge meat-cleaver bill. Dark, wispy hair-like feathers are scattered sparsely across the head, neck, and nape. The bare skin of the head and neck is predominantly pink to magenta in color, with spots of darker pigmentation concentrating around the face and extending down into the upper portion of the horn-colored bill. In breeding season the back of the neck turns a beautiful pale blue-green, and the spots on the face and forehead become encrusted with dried blood.
Two large inflatable subcutaneous air sacs complete the catalog of the Marabou’s peculiar features. One bright pink medium-sized bulbous sac protrudes from the feathers of the upper back. A larger pendulous flesh-colored gular sac hangs below the throat when inflated. The deflated gular sac can be concealed behind an incongruously attractive ruff of white neck feathers. Taken at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm
Uploaded on September 24, 2009