The bird had picked the frog up while searching for food by a waterhole in a memorable sighting witnessed by Jaco Joubert.
Stork wades in water looking for food
Saddle-billed storks, also known as saddle-backed storks, are striking and efficient hunters, particularly in wetlands and riverbank regions.
Their feeding behavior is fascinating to watch.
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The stork foraged in shallow water, walking slowly and purposefully.
These birds rely heavily on their keen eyesight to spot movement under the surface of the water.
Their long legs keep their bodies dry while they wade, and their long, strong bills are a powerful tool for seizing prey. These bills are marked by a vivid red ‘saddle’ with a yellow front… hence, their name.
Stork captures frog
Saddle-billed storks will often use a method called ‘probing’. This is exactly what this one did. It darted its bill into the water to grab whatever moved.
To hunt, saddle-billed storks sometimes stand motionless and wait for prey to swim within reach, then strike with lightning speed. Unlike some birds which scavenge or filter-feed, they are active, visual hunters.
Spying a frog, the bird used its long bill to snatch the frog up into the air. It was easy to see it had caught a frog, even from a distance, as the amphibian’s legs could be seen sticking out from its beak.
Frog puts up a fight for survival
However bad its predicament was at this stage, the frog refused to be an easy meal. It moved its limbs and shook about and gave the stork a hard time.
If it were possible for a stork and a frog to wrestle, then this was it!
To keep a hold of the frog, the stork had to put its head down and pin the frog against the mud of the river area. This was because the tiny amphibian was such a wriggly creature. It’s will to survive was so strong that its determined wiggles caught the attention of motorists watching the scene unfold.
Frog loses ‘wrestling’ match
Sadly, the tiny, slithery champion didn’t succeed in outwrestling the stork. This stork was a hunting machine, and at around 1,45 to 1,5 metres tall, was a formidable opponent.
Saddle-billed storks can weigh up to 7kg and have a wingspan of up to 2,7 metres. This massive size, combined with their bold black-and-white plumage and vivid red-and-yellow bill, make them unmistakable in the wild.
The frog had put up a brave fight, but the stork was much bigger and stronger. The bird soon swallowed the frog, before continuing to wade through the water on those long legs.
The sighting was a gentle reminder of the variety and abundance of life found in game reserves. Birds… and frogs… can be just as entertaining as animals, and when you spend some time at waterholes watching birds, you are bound to witness some incredible sightings.
The saddle-billed stork’s commanding presence caught Jaco’s attention and he filmed the bird long enough to witness a memorable confrontation.