Es feo, desgarbado, sucio. Pero a mí me gusta.
Desde las copas de los árboles donde construye sus nidos como sombreros deshilachados, planea con la inesperada gracilidad de una cigueña blanca y se deja posar inadvertido a la orilla del río. Cerca, la carcasa vacía de un springbok semihundido en el agua espera. Con sus patas finas y blancuchas se acerca ensayando su paso siniestro vestido con capa negra de enterrador y se dispone a darse un banquete de miserias. El cráneo pelado y rosa despliega un pico desproporcionado de violín desencajado cubierto de orín que desentona con el festón de plumas cabaretero que a duras penas puede ocultar la bolsa irremediable de su cuello crudo. Una vez que los buitres han despejado el camino puede entrar en escena.
El marabú ahuyenta las mariposas con su sombra de camposanto, pero a mí me gusta.
(Leptoptilus crumeniferus)
(Leptoptilus crumeniferus)
(Parque Nacional de Chobe, agosto de 2011)
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MARABOU (CHOBE, BOTSWANA)
It's ugly, clumsy, dirty. But I like it.
From the tops of the trees where it builds its nests like frayed hats, it flies with the unexpected grace of a white stork and lands unnoticed by the river. Nearby, the empty shell of a half-submerged springbok awaits. With its thin and whitish legs it comes closer rehearsing its sinister pace dressed in undertaker black cloak and ready to feast on misery. The bald and rose skull deploys a disproportionate bill like a dislocated fiddle covered with rust that odds with the cabaret garland of feathers that can barely hide the inevitable bag of its raw neck. Once the vultures have cleared the way it may enter the scene.
The marabou repels butterflies with its cemetery shadow, but I like it.
(Chobe National Park, August 2011)
From the tops of the trees where it builds its nests like frayed hats, it flies with the unexpected grace of a white stork and lands unnoticed by the river. Nearby, the empty shell of a half-submerged springbok awaits. With its thin and whitish legs it comes closer rehearsing its sinister pace dressed in undertaker black cloak and ready to feast on misery. The bald and rose skull deploys a disproportionate bill like a dislocated fiddle covered with rust that odds with the cabaret garland of feathers that can barely hide the inevitable bag of its raw neck. Once the vultures have cleared the way it may enter the scene.
The marabou repels butterflies with its cemetery shadow, but I like it.
(Chobe National Park, August 2011)
(c) Copyright del texto y de las fotos: Joaquín Moncó
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