Hamerkop
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Hamerkop  HamerkopScopus umbretta Kruger National Park |
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Distribution - Widely distributed south of the Sahara, Madagascar and South West Arabia. Brown all over, the long, curved flat bill and legs are black. Although a wading bird, it is a family (Scopidae) and genus (Scopus) all on its own.
Habitat - All wetland habitats.
Biological details - Height 48-56 cm, weight 0.5 kg. It flies with the neck extended like a stork, but possesses heron-like vocal organs. It has serrated claws and a fourth toe level with the other toes.
Diet - Fish, frogs and tadpoles, which they catch while wading through shallow water m, also rodents and similar small animals.
Breeding - Hammerheads reside singly, in pairs, or in small flocks, near water and seldom far from trees, in the forks of which they build intricate domed nests, some 150-180 cm or more in diameter, weighing up to 45 kg. The nests, to which the birds return each year, are three-compartmented structures, lined with mud and dung, and ornamented outside with bright-colored objects; they are built in the fork of trees, the entrance is at the underside. The female lays a clutch of three to six white eggs, which are incubated for 30 days. Both sexes care for the highly dependent young.
Hamerkop mythology - The bird is linked to witchcraft and greatly feared. Both the Hottentot and Zulu peoples believe that the hamerkop can foresee who will be next to die, by looking at the person's reflection in the water. If the hamerkop is seen flying over a person, it is believed that bad luck will befall him sometime during that day. See 
and for further details.
Other names - UK Hamerkop, Hammerhead, Hammer-headed Stork - NL Hamerkop - F Ombrette africaine - D Hammerkopf, Schattenvögel - IT Umbretta, Uccello martello - ES Avemartillo - S Skuggstork - FI Varjohaikara
Weblinks
www.kenyabirds.org.uk/hamer.htm
www.dierinbeeld.nl/animal_files/birds/hamerkop/
www.grokpedia.com/en/h/ha/Hammerkop.htm
wiki.cotch.net/index.php/Scopidae
www.encyclopedia.com/html/h1/hammerhe.asp
www.oaklandzoo.org/aom/hammerkop.html
Books
Ian Sinclair - A photographic guide to birds of Southern Africa. Struik Publ., ISBN 1-86872-553-7
Ian Sinclair et al. - Sasol birds of Southern Africa. Struik Publ. ISBN 1-86872-033-0
Kenneth Newman - Newman se voëls van Suider-Afrika. SAPPI. ISBN 1-868-12-758-3