The African openbill storks are believed to remove the snails from their shells by using their bills to pin the snails down long enough for the bird to severe the operculum. This is achieved by using the tip of the upper mandible to hold the snail on the ground and forcing the tip of the upper mandible under the operculum. Once the attachment point broken, the stork uses the tip of its bill to grasp onto the snail’s body and shakes its head sideways to release the meat from the shell. Finally, the stork swallows the body whole by tossing its head backwards. Mussels Opening mussels poses a bigger problem to the storks. Since the African openbill can’t open the mussel by itself, it will usually gather them up in large piles on the shore and wait for the sun to kill them. Once dead, the mussels release their hold on the shells leaving the meat accessible to the birds. Habitat African openbill storks live in every habitat where suitable mollusc prey can be found. Their preferred habitats remain long stretches of freshwater. They can sometimes be seen far from humid habitats, but only exceptionally. The place you are most likely to see them are on large freshwater wetlands with nearby tall trees or shrubs for them to nest in. Migration Some African openbill population are trans-equatorial migrants. Timing their migration to arrive in West Africa for the start of the dry period. They migrate in flocks and most of the reason and organisation behind these movements remain unknown. Some populations migrate while others are residents, migration in African openbill highly depends on the weather conditions. Behavior Adult specific behavior Comfort movements The African openbill uses the same comfort movements as seen in other storks such as preening, scratching and stretching. In addition, they rub the crown of their heads on the feathers of their backs in a circular, rolling motion. Other comfort movements include adopting the spread wing posture while sunning. While in the spread wing posture, the African openbill stork will sometimes excrete on its. This is known as “urohidrosis” and serves for thermoregulatory purposes. Social displays while foraging Few social interactions are observed when the storks are foraging. Flocks are even often seen foraging together. Sometimes hostile confrontations can occur between birds. In those situations, the dominant bird gives the Forward Threat display which lasts for a