[Image: Stork, Source: MfA]
Stork
12th dynasty
Source: W.S.Smith, Country Life in Ancient Egypt, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Storks and flamingoes

    The Egyptian word for "soul" (or the like), bA, is written with the Saddlebill Stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis) hieroglyph saddlebill. This is an African stork variety living in tropical, water rich environments. It nests on trees and has one or two eggs per clutch. The Saddlebill is up to one and a half metres tall and has a wingspan of 270 cm. It is a predator, feeding on fish, frogs, small reptiles, young birds etc. Like the White Stork it is generally silent, only clattering with its bill when meeting its mate on the nest.
    White Storks which breed in Europe migrate through Egypt on their way to southern Africa and only rarely spend the winter there.
Flamingo Flamingo     The pinkish Greater Flamingoes on the other hand often hibernate in Egypt.
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