Shoebill

Named for its massive, shoe-shaped bill — among the largest of any bird — the Shoebill is a towering grey wader of tropical East African swamps. It hunts by standing motionless in dense papyrus and lunging with its whole body, seizing lungfish, catfish, water snakes, monitor lizards, and even young crocodiles. Its blue-grey plumage carries a washed-out, powdery appearance, topped by a small tuft at the back of the head. It inhabits freshwater swamps thick with papyrus from South Sudan and Ethiopia south to Zambia, with the largest populations in South Sudan and Uganda. A clutch of one to three eggs is incubated for about 30 days, with young fledging between 95 and 105 days. Largely silent, it greets at the nest with mechanical bill-clattering. The species is classified as Vulnerable.