Shoebill Stork Grey Ink

A tall and terrifying bird, many people find the shoebill stork reminiscent of dinosaurs, and for good reason. The Shoebill Stork, like all of our modern birds, is descended from a group of dinosaurs called theropods which included the Tyrannosaurus rex. The shoebill is known to ornithologists as Balaenicps rex, or B-rex, meaning ‘the whale-headed king’, a reference to the bird’s most prominent feature. That giant bill is the stork’s main tool for hunting, but it comes in handy for a number of other uses also. Shoebills keep their eggs cool by scooping their bills full of water and pouring it over the nest. They also use the large hollow bill as a resonator for sound, but their "call” might not be what you expect. While shoebills have a syrinx (the bird equivalent of our voice box), they clap the upper and lower parts of their bill together rapidly to make a ‘machine gun’ sound that is very unique and carries quite far. So if you find yourself in the swamps of east Africa and hear so