Ciconia abdimii
Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Abdim's stork (Ciconia abdimii), also known as the white-bellied stork, is a stork belonging to the family Ciconiidae. It is the smallest species of stork, feeds mostly on insects, and is found widely in open habitats in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Yemen. The common name commemorates the Ottoman Albanian Governor of Wadi Halfa in Sudan, Bey El-Arnaut Abdim (1780–1827).
Abdim's stork is found widely in open habitats throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, from the Sahel to South Africa, being absent mainly from forests, dense woodlands and deserts. A smaller populations occurs in Yemen. It breeds colonially in trees, on cliffs or rooftops in the northern half of its range (north of the Equator) during the wet season from May to August, migrating to eastern and southern Africa for the remainder of the year. This stork has escaped or been deliberately released into Florida, U.S., but there is no evidence that the population is breeding and may only persist due to continuing releases or escapes.
Widespread and common throughout its large range, Abdim's stork is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is the subject of several nationally... Wikipedia →
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Abdim's Stork sighting in Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, based on 120 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 223rd most-seen of the 398 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report an Abdim's Stork in Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in April and June–November, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Abdim's Stork sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
11th of 29
Of the 29 parks where we can rate Abdim's Stork sightings, Masai Mara National Reserve ranks 11th at under 5%. The best odds are in Ngorongoro Conservation Area (Tanzania, about 20%), Awash National Park (Ethiopia, about 20%) and Murchison Falls National Park (Uganda, about 20%).
Same genus: Ciconia
The closest relatives of the Abdim's Stork that you can see in Masai Mara National Reserve (genus Ciconia, Ciconia Storks) are African Woolly-necked Stork (about 20%) and White Stork (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Abdim's Stork is recorded against all the birds logged in Masai Mara National Reserve (120 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
