The shoebill is similarly nonconformist in the air, where it has one of the slowest flapping rates of any bird. The shoebill stork has an average wingspan of over 2.5m © Getty images Are shoebill storks endangered The Shoebill stork is a rare and critically endangered bird (whose population is documented to be less than 5000 in the wild). Not so scary now, eh? Known as urohidrosis, it’s a messy but deliberate habit that helps the bird to stay cool. If you’ve ever seen a shoebill stork, you might have easily mistaken it for a muppet but it’s more Sam Eagle than is Skeksis of Dark Crystal. So you wont hear much throat sounds from them other than the whistling/wheezing in this video, but they will rapidly clack their beaks together as an additional form of communication Here are a few more examples: Marabou stork. They can stand motionless for hours, before attacking, shaking, crushing and then swallowing their prey, and yet, this relative of the pelican is so much more than some villainous caricature.įor one thing, it poos on its own legs. Fun fact, storks in general have a less developed syrinx (vocal box of birds) than most other bird species. It’s also slow, purposeful and utterly relentless. This freshwater swamp specialistfrom eastern Africastands over a metre tall, has a wingspan of up to 75cm, and its sharp, clog-shaped bill grows up to 24cm long. It also doesn’t help that the bird is physically intimidating. And yes, its stare is somewhat intense – think Paddington Bear meets Vinnie Jones.
Yes, it has an enormous, shoe-shaped beak that can kill a baby croc or wrangle a lungfish. Yes, it’s a solitary loner that picks off its prey one at a time.
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