Jabiru

Overview
Jabiru: Huge stork, one of the largest flying birds. Plumage is entirely white, head and neck are black and featherless with a red throat pouch. Black bill is large, slightly upturned. Black legs and feet. Alternates between strong, slow wing beats and short glides. Soars on thermals and updrafts.

Range and Habitat
Jabiru: Native to Central and South America, rare and accidential in Texas and Oklahoma. Lives near rivers, ponds, and marshy areas.

The Jabiru is evaluated as Least Concern at this time. The Jabiru is native to South America, Central America and North America. It is also a visitor to other portions of the world as well, including the Caribbean. The range of this bird species is fairly large, reaching up to almost 7 million square kilometers. At this time the population of the Jabiru has not been quantified to a specific number of individual birds. This bird is considered to be frequent within its native range and is not believed to be at risk at this time.

INTERESTING FACTS
The Jabiru was first described in 1819 by Martin Heinrich Carl Lichtenstein, a German physician, explorer and zoologist. Their name comes from the Tupi-Guarani language and means "swollen neck". While it is an ungainly bird on the ground, it is a powerful and graceful flier. The name Jabiru has also been used for two other birds: the Asian Black-necked Stork, commonly called "Jabiru" in Australia; and the Saddle-billed Stork of sub-Saharan Africa. A group of storks has many collective nouns, including "a clatter of storks", "a filth of storks", "a muster of storks", "a phalanx of storks", and a "swoop of storks."