Marabou Storks are probably the ugliest birds out there. They rank (I think) higher than those chickens with no neck feathers (they have these here). I mean, UGLY. They have fine hair/feathers on parts of their head and neck, but mostly they appear to be bald from the shoulders upward. They are garbage-eaters, with records of each bird consuming more than 10 lbs. of garbage per day. Ugh. Yuck. Anyway, these guys have a few gifts; one is to reproduce at rates seemingly competitive to goats (which have 1-2 kids then those kids grow up in about a minute to produce more goats). Yes, the birds reproduce very well, and it seems by the next day (almost) the babies are adults themselves, producing more offspring. For some reason they like to dwell in trees only about 20 feet high, and their nests are huge, made of sticks and debris from the garbage dump. Oh, and they grow up to 5 feet tall. Yes, they are tall birds. You can see the wingspan is also pretty wide- more than 7 or 8 feet. Yikes! They have a gullet or some such throat pouch, which stores food to feed their babies. It is not a lovely sight- seeing the babe reach headlong into the mouth of momma or daddy and snare anything from a piece of discarded food to a piece of plastic bag. So these tall, reproducing, garbage eating, ugly birds have been seen all over Kampala and other parts of Africa. However, I have seen their glory. I believe God gives all creatures (well, maybe not mosquitoes or cockroaches) glory, where we can see a glimpse of Him. In the case of the Marabou Stork, it is when they fly. They don't fly low (except of course in take-off and landing). They fly about 1000 feet high-or more, and they simply SOAR! Usually you see anywhere from 2 to 40 (really!) storks high in the sky, soaring on the wind currents. It is a gorgeous sight! So see, even the ugly things of creation can have beauty to them! God is good- all the time! :) Oh- and P.S. Marabou Storks are featured in the movie, The Lion King, as they soar out over a water fall scene. But they look nice there- since you can't see them close up!