5. Marabou Stork Here is another truly marvellous bird: unashamedly ugly on the ground, with its bare neck of pink, scabby skin around the face and massive, horny bill. Most wonderful are the two inflatable skin sacks: one bright red behind at the base of the neck and another pink pendulous balloon which wobbles below the neck. What is this for, you may ask? During courtship, it becomes bright pink and, being linked to the bird’s left nostril, it can act as a resonator for its growling calls: a wide range, the book says, of “bleating, grunting and squeaking noises”. The bird’s legs appear white, but that, unfortunately, is not what it seems. Its feeding habits are also, some might think, unattractive: they can be seen even in the city of Nairobi, rooting around rubbish tips and eating scraps of all kinds, but also on the plains, picking at carcases, gulping past that enormous gullet great lumps of meat. In flight, of course, they are majestic, soaring on their tremendous wings high overhead. They also make good pets; at least, there is somewhere a YouTube video of one stepping ever so lovingly onto its proud and prone owner’s stomach. Birds of AFRICAMA House 15