This includes incubating and turning eggs, and cooling them with water they bring to the nest in their large bills. Females lay an average of two eggs at the end of the rainy season.Īs co-parents, both birds tend to the eggs and young. Breeding pairs build nests on water or on floating vegetation, and can be up to eight feet wide. These birds are very solitary in nature, though, and even mating pairs will feed at opposite sides of their territory. Shoebills reach maturity at three to four years old, and breeding pairs are monogamous.

Chicks sometimes make hiccup-like sounds when they’re hungry. They keep cool with a technique called gular fluttering-vibrating the throat muscles to dissipate heat. Though they’re mainly silent, shoebills sometimes engage in bill-clattering, a sound made as a greeting and during nesting.

They do share traits with storks and herons, like the long necks and legs characteristic of wading birds, though their closest relatives are the pelicans. Shoebills are in a family all their own, though they were once classified as storks. The birds practice a hunting technique called “collapsing,” which involves lunging or falling forward on their prey. Shoebills can stay motionless for hours, so when a hapless lungfish comes up for air, it might not notice this lethal prehistoric-looking bird looming until it’s too late. They also have long, thin legs with large feet that are ideal for walking on the vegetation in the freshwater marshes and swamps they inhabit in East Africa, from Ethiopia and South Sudan to Zambia. Reaching up to five feet tall with an eight-foot wingspan, shoebills have yellow eyes, gray feathers, white bellies, and a small feathered crest on the back of their heads. It even snacks on baby crocodiles and Nile monitor lizards.Īt first glance, shoebills don’t seem like they could be ambush predators. Its specialized bill allows the shoebill to grab large prey, including lungfish, tilapia, eels, and snakes. Tan with brown splotches, it's five inches wide and has sharp edges and a sharp hook on the end. What makes the aptly named shoebill so unique is its foot-long bill that resembles a Dutch clog. The bird remained uncatalogued by many Western societies until midway through the 19th century.Current Population Trend: Decreasing What is a shoebill?ĭepending on your perspective, a shoebill either has the same goofy charm as the long-lost dodo or it looks like it might go on the attack any moment. They Remained undetected Until The 1850s.Shoebill storks poo on themselves to keep cool.They make a clapping noise especially during mating time When they make noise, it is really intense like a gun shot.Shoebill storks are very solitary and rarely make noise.They weigh about 16 pounds and are nearly five feet in height. They are big and tall and can literally look you in the eyes.Shoebill stork reproduction begins at three years old, and they can survive in the wild under good conditions for more than thirty-five years They can live for more than 35 years although their habitant is being encroached on by man.Shoebill storks are so patient and may stand still for about 2 hours waiting patiently to catch their prey in water.Bizarre looking shoebill stork Fun facts about shoebill storks Only one out of three chicks survives.Ī shoebill stork looks like it is made up of different spare parts from different birds, for example it looks like it stole its beak from a pelican, legs from a flamingo, and it is head from an eagle. Their chicks must be fully fletched before the rains arrive or else they will be swept away by floods. The shoebill storks hunt in the reeds and build their nests in the sandy banks. Several shoebill storks live in this swamp, offering the perfect opportunity to see them anytime of the year. Mabamba wetland bay swamp is a perfect bird life sanctuary with other birds that include the papyrus swamp gonelek, African Jacana, malachite Kingfisher among other birds. The shoebill stork ranks among the 10 highly sought after birds by birders on a Uganda bird watching safari and cannot be missed at Mabamba wetland swamp in Uganda as well as Murchison Falls National Park.

It is a pre-historic bird and some scientists have reported that it is said to be related to dinosaurs- That is scary- Right? Shoebill storks are only found in Africa, and are critically endangered with about 5000 remaining. It hunts like a heron from a standing position and lung fish are his favorite meal. A shoebill stork- A bird that looks like a dinosaurĪ shoebill stork (Balaenicepts rex) is bizarre looking, shy and elusive and 54 inches /122 cm tall and has a bill that looks like like a shoe.

Are shoebill stork dinosaurs