It has broad wings, with an average wingspan between 7.5 – 8.5 feet (2.2 – 2.6m). The shoebill averages between 3.5 – 4.5 feet (1 – 1.4 meters) in height, and weighs between 9 – 15.5 pounds (4 – 7 kg). The shoebill is an extremely tall bird, with long spindly legs, that allows it to stand in the shallows of swamps and on aquatic vegetation, while hunting for food. However, it does occasionally hunt and eat other prey, such as frogs, lizards, watersnakes, snails and rodents. The shoebill is piscivorous, primarily eating fish – in particular lungfish, as well as bichirs, tilapia and catfish. Shoebill were previously thought of as storks, but genetic research has re-classified them as members of the order Pelecaniformes and family Balaenicipitidae, which are large waterbirds, genetically closer to pelicans and herons. Occasionally frogs, snakes, snails, rodents & even baby crocodiles. It’s distribution is often close to the presence of papyrus vegetation, and lungfish.Įast Africa – Uganda, Sudan, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Botswana and Tanzania. Shoebill inhabit East Africa, in freshwater swamps and marshes of Uganda, Sudan, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Botswana and Tanzania. They are sometimes referred to as ‘ Whalehead‘, for obvious reasons. © 2016 Tune In to November 2016 Narrator: Mary McCannĬURWOOD: Swoop on over to our website, LOE.org, for some pictures.The shoebill is a large, elusive, stalk-like bird with an almost prehistoric appearance, due to its oversized shoe-shaped beak.
XC320901 ambient sounds recorded by James Bradley, Kenyan Swamp setting.īirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler. Shoebills are notably less numerous than pelicans, though, with only 8,000 surviving in the wild.īird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. But DNA analysis showed that it’s more closely related to pelicans - another group of birds whose oversized beaks are truly awe-inspiring. The Shoebill’s physical resemblance to the stork gave it its early name, the Whale-headed Stork. Shoebills resemble storks, but are more closely related to pelicans. Which Shoebills hunt in the shallows, often standing completely motionless before they strike. The edges are sharp enough to behead its prey, which include catfish with hard bony heads as well as lungfish, snakes, and even baby crocodiles. But although the Shoebill looks like it walked right out of a cartoon, its beak is no joke. So named because that comically large bill is, yellow-orange, and shaped like an oversized Dutch wooden shoe. Meet the Shoebill, a bird unknown to science until the 19th Century, and the only living member of its family. But instead of the stork’s long, tapered bill, substitute a prodigious, stout bill that’s hooked at the tip – and that gives this bird its name. Picture a massive, blue-gray stork, standing up to five feet tall on long, gray legs. MCCANN: Deep in the dense, remote swamps of Central Africa lives one of the most peculiar looking of all birds. And periodically, as Mary McCann points out in today's BirdNote®, there are birds that are – well – downright weird. CURWOOD: Birds come in all shapes and sizes, with feathers drab or colorful – and voices melodious or grating.
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