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The hamerkop is a medium-sized waterbird, standing 56 cm (22 in) high and weighing 470 g (17 oz), although the subspecies S. u. minor is smaller. Its plumage is a drab brown with purple iridescence on the back; S. u. minor is darker.
A squat, brown, ibis-like bird with a bushy-crested “hammer-head”; often found near wetlands or rivers. In flight, it has distinctively deep wingbeats and may occasionally soar very high, when the long neck separates it from raptors. It struts about in wetlands foraging for frogs, fish, and insects.
- Hamerkop Characteristics
- Hamerkop Habitat
- Hamerkop Diet
- Hamerkop Behaviour
- Hamerkop Reproduction
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The Hamerkop is a distinctive medium sized wading bird measuring 47 – 56 centimetres in length and weighing around 415 – 430 grams. The color of its plumage is brown and there are hints of iridescent purple on its back. The Hamerkop’s bill is long and flat and slightly hooked at the tip and their is a square, blunt crest on its nape. Compared to ot...
The Hamerkop prefers wetland habitats such as all types of shallow slow moving or still waters including irrigated land such as rice fields, also savannas and forests. Territories are dominated by pairs. Hamerkops move in quickly when new bodies of water occur such as dams or canals.
Hamerkops usually feed alone or in pairs and mainly during the daytime, taking a rest at noon to roost. Their diet consists of mainly aquatic invertebrates and they will also eat fish, insects, shrimp and rodents. They wade through shallow water searching for prey. To flush prey out of hiding, they rake their feet through the water bed or flap thei...
Hamerkops are soaring birds who fly with slow wing beats and stretch their necks forward when in flight. When flapping their wings, their necks coil backwards. Hamerkops are vocal birds when in groups and produce ‘keks’, ‘yips’ and shrills when in flight, otherwise they are generally silent birds particularly when alone. It will often perch on the ...
The female Hamerkop lays between 3 and 7 white eggs that soon become soiled and stained. Both male and female take turns to incubate the eggs over a period of 28 – 30 days. Both parents care and feed the young although chicks may be left in the safety of their huge nests for long periods of time which is quite common with wading birds. The hatchlin...
Learn about the Hamerkop, a wading bird with a hammer-shaped head, a long flat bill and a crest. Find out about its habitat, diet, behaviour, reproduction and conservation status.
Mar 4, 2020 · Hamerkop (Scopus umbretta), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.hamerk1.01.
The Hamerkop (Scopus umbretta), a medium-sized wading bird, is the sole representative of its genus and family. Its distinctive hammer-shaped head, complete with a long bill and a rear crest, has inspired its name from the Afrikaans term for "hammerhead."
Learn about the hamerkop, a medium-sized wading bird with a long bill and crest, related to pelicans and shoebill. Find out where it lives, what it eats, how it nests, and what it sounds like.
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Learn about the hamerkop, a medium-sized bird with a hammer-shaped head, a long beak, and a brown plumage. Discover its diet, habitat, behavior, nesting, and status, and see pictures and maps of its distribution.
