African Openbill

The African Openbill is a wading bird of the stork family, of the genus Anastomus, which it shares only with the Indian Openbill. At a maximum of 94 cm in length, it is a medium-sized stork, slightly smaller but much lighter than the White Stork. As with most storks, there is no sexual dimorphism, except that males are usually larger than females.
The plumage can appear to be generally black, especially from a distance. But seen up close in good light, adult birds in breeding plumage show elongated, ornamental feathers on the lower neck, upper chest, mantle, and scapulars with beautiful green, brown-red, or violet metallic reflections.
As its name implies, it is its bill that characterizes it and allows easy identification. This bill, long and strong, horn-colored at its base and darker in its second half, is adapted to the very specialized nutrition of the species. The lower mandible is only in contact with the upper one on the proximal half of the bill and at its tip at one point, leaving an oblong opening with a maximum height of 6 mm in the distal part.
The legs are gray, the eyes brown, surrounded by a bare blue skin that joins the lores also bluish.
The immature resembles the adult but duller, more brown, with fewer reflections, and has a straighter bill, with little or no space between the two mandibles. It takes several years for the bill to acquire its definitive shape.