Shoebill

While looking up the shoebill for this post I came across a fascinating series of articles by Noah Strycker in Audubon Magazine. In 2015 he was on a year-long quest to see as many birds as he possibly could. On August 29 he was on day 241 and at the end of the day he'd seen an incredible 4,090 different birds that year! This day he was in Mabamba Swamp "a floating mass of vegetation in an inlet of Lake Victoria, famous among birders for one bird, the Shoebill, my most wanted bird in Uganda." 

Strycker goes on: "The Shoebill resembles no other bird on Earth. It stands nearly four feet tall with a massive beak and weird eyes and a cowlick on the back of its head, and always seems to be glowering down with a curious disapproval. The Shoebill makes no sound except an occasional bill-snap; it doesn't blink; it often stands statue-still for long periods of time; it eats lungfish and has been recorded attacking fish more than three feet long; it mostly lives in remote swamps (perhaps most commonly in South Sudan, though nobody seems to be sure);...it's not closely related to any other birds...Virtually everyone who has ever seen a Shoebill went to Uganda to see it, and virtually everyone who has seen one in Uganda found it at Mabamba Swamp, where there are an estimated eight adult birds. The swamp is weird enough...the solid-looking reeds and grasses are, in fact, floating on top of deep water. Narrow channels have been cut to allow canoe access..." Great writing and great information. 

Almost ten years after Strycker was at Mabamba Swamp (July 2025) I was there with Judy and my granddaughter in a wooden boat floating through the narrow channels cut through the reeds and grasses, also looking for a shoebill. We came upon another boat watching one and were then joined by several other boats that also came to watch. We probably watched it for 30 minutes, way too long because it hardly moved. This series of photos captures about all of the movement made by the shoebill while we watched, and most of that movement was made by my camera, lengthening and shortening the lens. 

Well, that's about all the excitement I'm sure you can handle for the day, so we'll move on. 

Shoebill illustration from Birds of the World, including the illustration of the head below. 

Shoebill range from Birds of the World.