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Project Noah Nature School
Scopus umbretta
Hamerkops are a rich sepia brown colour, which becomes a purplish gloss on the upper parts and the flight feathers. There are several darker brown bars on the tail, and faint grey streaks on its throat. The bill, legs and feet are black. Male and female birds have the same appearance. The large, long bill is laterally compressed with a small hook at the end of the upper mandible. It features a long crest of pointed, horizontally-carried feathers on the back of its head which give the appearance of counterbalancing the bill. In flight, the long neck is partially drawn back. The body is plump with broad rounded wings and a square-tipped tail. The lower portion of its long legs is bare of feathers. There are four toes on each leg; the three that face forward are connected by a partial web. There is a pectinated edge on the middle toe which aids the bird in preening. The fourth toe faces backwards. In courtship, Hamerkops perform elaborate displays, bowing and flapping their wings and giving out a yapping, cackling call. Sometimes several birds will hop each other’s backs, stretch their wings and raise their crests
Spotted in a marshy lake area with the South Luangwa National Park
Normally courtship peaks in August / September so I was lucky to see this in June
Spotted on Jun 18, 2018
Submitted on Jul 15, 2018
8 Comments
Ashley - wow thank you - I'm honoured to be nominated
Thanks Daniele - easy to change once you know!
Your spotting has been nominated for the Spotting of the Week. The winner will be chosen by the Project Noah Rangers based on a combination of factors including: uniqueness of the shot, status of the organism (for example, rare or endangered), quality of the information provided in the habitat and description sections. There is a subjective element, of course; the spotting with the highest number of Ranger votes is chosen. Congratulations on being nominated!
Stephen, the following should help:
EDITING PROBLEMS/CREATING CONTENT
There is a known security glitch which occurs with most browsers and many platforms which, like Project Noah, use the secure services provided by Facebook and Google.These are https sites but Project Noah is not.
Check in the address bar and if it starts with https:// delete the s and press enter or F5 to refresh and the problem should go away. If it starts with www. just add http:// in front.
It usually disappears until the next security update but can also often appear if you open a spotting from an e-mail link and then try to edit it.
Thanks Daniele - for some reason when I try and edit I cannot sign the declaration and hence save it again............
Fantastic documentation Stephen! As per our guidelines under Habitat please just describe the actual habitat where the spotting was made. Many thanks in advance!
Thank you Neil - appreciated
I travelled to Zimbabwe several times many years ago, but never saw these amazing birds. These are great photos, Stephen, and the notes are excellent. Cheers for sharing.