Abdim's stork (Ciconia abdimii), also known as the white-bellied stork, is a stork belonging to the family Ciconiidae. It is the smallest species of stork, feeds mostly on insects, and is found widely in open habitats in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Yemen. The common name commemorates the Turkish Governor of Wadi Halfa in Sudan, Bey El-Arnaut Abdim (1780–1827).
Abdim's stork is found widely in open habitats throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, from the Sahel to South Africa, being absent mainly from forests, dense woodlands and deserts. A smaller populations occurs in Yemen. It breeds colonially in trees, on cliffs or rooftops in the northern half of its range (north of the Equator) during the wet season from May to August, migrating to eastern and southern Africa for the remainder of the year. This stork has escaped or been deliberately released into Florida, U.S., but there is no evidence that the population is breeding and may only persist due to continuing releases or escapes. Archived 2018-12-13 at the Wayback Machine.
Widespread and common throughout its large range, Abdim's stork is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is the subject of several nationally coordinated breeding programs: in the United States, the plan for this species is administered by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and in Europe by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria.
Ciconia abdimii is a black stork with grey legs, red knees and feet, grey bill and white underparts. It has red facial skin in front of the eye and blue skin near the bill in breeding season. It is the smallest species of stork, at 73 cm (29 in) and a weight of just over 1 kg (2.2 lb).
The Abdim's stork is mostly insectivorous, feeding on locusts, caterpillars and other large insects, although these birds will also eat small reptiles, amphibians, mice, crabs and eggs. The female lays two to three eggs and is slightly smaller than the male.
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This small stork feeds almost exclusively on large insects, so it is easy to see how they congregate in meadows and grasslands following large flocks or in agricultural areas. They gather in large numbers on the edges of small fires, waiting for insects that flee from the fire, and around huge swarms of locusts, catching these grasshoppers voraciously.
It enjoys the protection and protection of many people who consider it a sign of good luck for arriving with the rains or for destroying the locusts that would otherwise devour their crops. For this reason, it nests without fear in towns, on the roofs of houses, sometimes encouraged by the inhabitants themselves.
It nests colonially in cliffs, trees or agricultural environments. The male takes possession of an old nest that is usually a platform of sticks. The females approach until she chooses one, they lay two to three eggs and the chicks begin to fly after two months.
Intra-African migratory bird, it makes migratory movements coinciding with the rainy season, between May and August they reproduce in the tropical areas of the northern hemisphere, then between September and October they cross the equator and move towards the east and then towards the south in the case of the populations of eastern Africa or towards the south in the case of the most southern populations.
They arrive in the tropics of southern Africa at the beginning of the rainy season (November to March) where they remain until the rains subside, at which point they move north again during April and May, just as those rains begin. latitudes the rainy season.
Popular beliefs believe that seeing Abdim's stork is an omen of good luck, since it will bring rain, which is why many people make nests on their roofs so that they can nest in them.
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