![]() The young birds fledge at 105 days and are able to fly quite well by the 112 th day, and won’t reach maturity until they are three to four years old. When eggs are hatched both parents participate in incubating the eggs for a period of 30 days with the eggs being regularly turned and sometimes doused with water from the shoebill’s mouth. The breeding season is synced to the water levels around them and will begin as the dry season sets in so that the newborn birds will have fledged when the rainy season begins. The nest is built on floating vegetation, or an island among the aquatic vegetation and water and is usually well hidden from prying eyes. These birds are hardy and can go for up to four days without having scored a meal.Įven though they are solitary, during the breeding season they form monogamous pairs, with the females laying one to three eggs each season. They are diurnal, rarely hunting after dark, except only when there is sufficient light at night such as from a full moon on a clear night. The hook at the end of its beak is also an effective tool in spearing slippery prey such as the Senegal Bichir. Its wide, long and sharp beak enables it to hunt prey that is much bigger than what other wading birds usually hunt. These birds are exclusively carnivorous with their prey ranging from different species of lungfish (African lungfish, and marbled lungfish), catfish, and tilapia, to the Senegal Bichir.Īpart from fish, its diet also includes baby crocodiles, Nile monitor lizards, water snakes and frogs. Hippos also help out when they disturb the waters, the fish will come to the surface into the waiting bill of the Shoebill! They are relatively successful as hunters with the success rate being about 60% of the hunts yielding results. When prey is spotted, the shoebill will lunge quite violently, striking and catching prey with its bill. When they are surprised or flushed, they will fly no more than 500 m (1640 ft).Īs they hunt, the massive bill is held vertically down out of the way of the line of sight, since these birds hunt primarily by sight. It also has one of the slowest wing flap rates at just 150 flaps per minute, with the flight pattern alternating between flapping and gliding at a rate of about 7 seconds between each.Įven with such an impressive wingspan, the Shoebill doesn’t like to fly for long periods or distances and has been recorded only a few times flying further than 20 m (66 ft) when foraging. Just like pelicans and larger storks, when in flight, the wings are held flat, and the neck is retracted. ![]() They have grey feathers with the flight feathers being a darker grey, white belly feathers, yellow eyes and a feathered crest at the back of the head. The colours and wings of the Shoebill bird. Its feet are quite large and its legs long, and are perfectly suited to its aquatic habitat and hunting techniques. The bill also has another unique: a razor-sharp, curved hook at the end of the bill. Their shoe-shaped bill is also the third longest in the world, behind pelicans and the larger stork species, and can reach 24 cm (9.4 in.), in length and 20 cm (7.8 in.) in width, which gives the shoebill the tools to hunt extremely large prey. The males will weigh about 5.6 kg (12 lbs.), while the females will usually weigh about 4.9 kg (11 lbs.), but some males will reach weights of 7 kg (15 lbs). Shoebill birds display sexual dimorphism with the male being bigger and heavier than the females. When compared to a human, an adult shoebill is slightly shorter than an average-height adult human. The Shoebill stork is a tall bird, with most of its heights ranging from 110-140 cm ( 43-55 in.), and the tallest individuals reaching 152 cm (60 in.).įrom beak to tail, the length will average between 110-140 cm ( 39-55 in.), and the wingspan ranges from 230-260 cm (7’7”-8’6”), which makes them well adapted for soaring. In this article, you’ll get to know more about this amazing, and why it fascinates birders so much.Īre you thinking about buying binoculars to have a good look at all the magnificent birds of Africa? ![]() Its scientific name is Balaeniceps rex, which is derived from the Latin words Balaena and Caput (abbreviated as Ceps), which stand for whale and head respectively, giving the shoebill another name, the Whale Headed Stork.
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