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Marabou Stork
Saw this bird at the zoo yesterday, but Tay was so disturbed by it that I had to get her away from the enclosure. This is not some freak or injury, all of the birds of this species were sitting like this. I didn''t get to read the signage, because Tay was a handful at that point. one of the sad things about her autism is that when she''s as tired as she was Saturday, she just couldn''t handle something that looked so different than her usual experiences.
If you think he just looks ugly in this picture, you should read more about his behaviors and appearance:the Marabou''s fondness for carrion and its habit of squirting excrement onto its own legs.
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.Oh, no! Now I''ll have nightmares about the darn thing, too!
well, actually.
You have to wonder about the ecological niche a creature like this fits into, and just be happy as can be that you''re not a female Marabou Stork.