Saddle-billed Stork

The saddle-billed stork is silent except for bill-clattering at the nest. Like most storks, it flies with its neck outstretched, not retracted like a heron; in flight, the large, heavy bill is kept drooping somewhat below belly height, giving it a distinctive appearance. This makes it easily recognizable, even if seen from a distance. Due to the large size and unusual appearance in flight, this species is suggested to be the basis for the "big bird" and kongamato cryptids.

The saddle-billed stork is a solitary nester, building massive nest platforms that are used repeatedly in successive seasons. Unlike many other storks, this species is often seen in pairs in the nonbreeding season, suggesting a lifelong pair bond. It breeds in forested wetlands and other floodplains in tropical lowlands. It builds a large, deep stick nest in a tree, laying one to five (typically two or three) white eggs weighing about each. The incubation period is 30–35 days, with another 70–100 days before the chicks fledge, with the young often remaining in the parents' territory until the next breeding season.

The saddle-billed stork searches for prey by stabbing its bill into the water, catching prey by contact, and in the same way into mud and vegetation. It also hunts by visual detection. In one study with 255 minutes of observation, 71% of successful catches were due to visual foraging, and 29% were due to tactile foraging. It usually feeds on aquatic prey such as fish, lungfish (Protopterus spp.), and catfish (Clarias spp.), up to in weight. In the case of large fish prey, the fish is often taken to the shore, where pectoral fins may be clipped off before the fish is swallowed head first. The saddle-billed stork opportunistically catches other prey such as frogs, snails, small mammals, birds, snakes, and insects such as grasshoppers, termites, and water beetles. In an unusual case, a saddle-billed stork killed and consumed a red-billed duck (Anas erythrorhyncha) and a spitting cobra (Naja mossambica). An unsuccessful attack on the slender mongoose (Galerella sanguinea) has been reported.

The saddle-billed stork is represented in an Ancient Egyptian hieroglyph (Gardiner G29) 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 during the Late Predynastic period (pre-3150 BC), 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 (circa 2686–2181 BC).