ANIMAL KINGDOM The Shoebill

AFRICA’S SOUGHT-AFTER KING OF THE MARSHES

The Shoebill, a huge, stork-like water bird with grey plumage and a large shoeshaped bill, has an almost prehistoric look about it. Like something from the dinosaur age, this 55 inch tall bird has become one of Africa’s most sought after species, and Uganda is the best place to see it.

The Shoebill frequents the wetlands of Queen Elizabeth National Park, the shores of River Nile in Murchison Falls National Park and the Mabamba Swamps of Lake Victoria in Entebbe. Living amongst dense papyrus swamps where it catches lungfish and other aquatic prey, this rare bird derives its name from its massive shoe-shaped bill which can reach up to 24cm in length and 20cm in width. These bills are precise fishing tools with razor-sharp edges that can decapitate large fish or even a baby crocodile.

Often referred to as the “dino birds”, coming face to face with the strikingly blue-eyed shoebill is the stuff of birding dreams! As well as over 1000 other bird species, Uganda accounts for over 50% of Africa’s species and 11% of the world’s birds. Birders’ obsession with the shoebill started over two centuries ago when British Victorian naturalist John Gould brought the first specimen from Africa to London’s Natural History Museum. Ornithologist experts were astonished and in disbelief that such a bird existed.

While the shoebill is called a stork, genetically speaking it is more closely related to the pelican or heron families. They nest in papyrus, and the Bangweulu Swamps in Zambia are the

southernmost extent of their distribution, but they are also found in other marshy areas in Rwanda’s Akagera National Park and swamplands of Sudan.

The solitary nature of shoebills extends to their breeding habits. Nests are typically less than three per square kilometre, unlike herons, cormorants, pelicans and storks which predominantly nest in colonies. Both parents actively brood, shade, guard and feed the nestlings, although the females are perhaps slightly more attentive. Food items are regurgitated whole from the gullet straight into the bill of the young.

When they are first born, shoebills have a more modestly-sized bill, which is initially silverygrey. The bill becomes noticeably larger when the chicks are 23 days old, and becomes well developed by 43 days. The shoebill has an average lifespan of about 50 years.

Shoebills will often hatch two nestlings but only raise one chick. The youngest chick is known to be “insurance” in case the elder one doesn’t live. The sinister sibling rivalry starts when the mother leaves to fetch water and the elder chick attacks the younger one. With limited food supply, the mother favours the stronger, often eldest chick to ensure one of its young survives. It will take the young shoebills three years before they become fully sexually mature.

Take a trip to Mabamba Bay Community Reserve on the shores of Lake Victoria, a short way from Entebbe. Mabamba Shoebill Tours offers an exceptional experience in a dugout canoe in search of Africa’s birding holy grail, with excellent sighting chances of these elusive giant birds.