Shoebill Adult
The Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) also known as Whalehead or Shoe-billed Stork, is a very large stork-like bird. It derives its name from its massive shoe-shaped bill.
The adult bird is 115-150 cm tall, 100-140 cm long, 230-260 cm across the wingspan and weighs 4-7 kg. Their beaks have an average length of 30 cm. The adult is mainly grey while the juveniles are browner. It lives in tropical east Africa in large swamps from Sudan to Zambia.
The Shoebill is a tall bird (120 cm tall) that has a huge, bulbous bill about 19 cm long. The sharp edges in the mandibles help the Shoebill to decapitate their prey and also to discard any vegetation after prey has been caught. As in the pelicans, the upper mandible is strongly keeled, ending in a sharp nail.
The neck is short and thick, and the wings broad and adapted to soaring. As in the pelicans and the storks of the genus Leptoptilos, the Shoebill flies retracting its neck. The plumage is blue-grey with darker slaty-grey flight feathers. The breast presents some elongated feathers, which have dark shafts. The juveniles have a similar plumage color, but with a darker grey with a brown tinge.
This species is considered to be one of the five most desirable birds in
Africa by ornithologists. There are Egyptian images depicting the Shoebill, while the Arabs referred to the bird as abu markub, which means one with a shoe, a reference to the bird's distinctive bill.