Scientifically known as the” Balaeniceps rec”, a shoebillis a striking solitary gigantic bird that inhabits areas close to freshwater lakes or marshy swamps of Uganda, parts of South Sudan especially around the suds, central tropical Africa, western Tanzania and Rwanda and selected parts of northern Zambia. It is sometimes referred to as the whale-headed stork or shoe-billed stork.
The Shoebill stork is a bird of tremendous interest to both avid and casual birders who take on birding tours to Africa. Its prehistoric traits make it stand out among other birds and draw to it more attention which it deserves. Beginning with its enormous spherical bill that looks like a shoe. This feature earned its name from the Arabs who originally called it “Abu Maruk” loosely translated as the father of the shoe. This was due to its striking resemblance to shoes while in flight. Also, the shoebill has one of the largest wings recorded at about 260cms.
The shoebill has one of the slowest flapping motions recorded among birds and takes less flapping and then gliding for more seconds. They rather prefer to stay down than fly and only a few have been sighted flying beyond its feeding territories.
Shoebills can be easily distinguished in gender; the male is slightly larger than the female. Male birds can weigh above 6kgs while females up to 4.4kgs. Shoebills engage in monogamous breeding and share responsibility for incubation and looking after their offspring. Females lay one to two eggs in ground nests which take a month to hatch. Parents forage for their young to a few months until they can fend for themselves and leave.
Feeding.
Shoebills prefer areas with inadequate oxygen that forces fish living in these waters to surface more to get oxygen making them an easy target for this predator bird. Their main meals range from lungfish, catfish and not unusual to feed on frogs, snakes, and smaller fowl. Shoebills are reported to take on larger prey than other water birds. Another interesting fact is though they don’t have webbed feet they can easily manage their way atop the water vegetation.
Shoebills rarely migrate and this is usually due to human intervention or rare change in climatic changes. They are territorial and guard especially their nests viciously from intruders. They may look passive but one of the most graceful birds when in the act of attacking their prey or in flight.
Shoebills rarely raise more than one chick which explains their extremely small population across the globe and its estimated population of around 8,000 individuals. The species is categorized as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Even though it can survive to more than 45 years, its breeding success is so low that limits the number of chicks that survive and grow into adulthood.
Best spots to view a Shoebill stork in Uganda.
These birds are more effortlessly sighted in Uganda than in other countries especially in Murchison falls national park when a morning or evening boat cruise through the marshes along the banks can reward you with a sight of this mythical bird. Other hot spots include the Mabamba swamp which is a few hours from the capital Kampala, Rugogo swamp and Semuliki national park nearing Lake Albert.
The search for shoebills in Uganda will greatly reward you with more than what you search for initially. Uganda boasts of over 1000 bird species with 10 percent of total bird species in the world calling it home. On your shoebill expedition, you might also chance a sighting of the elusive Gonolek and other beautiful species.
This bird diversity and beauty of environments make Uganda one of the ideal birding destinations to include on your next African safari adventure.
