Birds · Pelecaniformes · Scopidae
Hamerkop
Scopus umbretta
Least Concern
The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk.
The hamerkop is a brownish, medium-sized bird with an occipital crest that, together with the thick bill, gives its head the shape of a hammer. It is the only member of its family. It lives beside water and hunts amphibians and small fish. Its most astonishing feature is the nest: a closed structure more than a metre and a half across, with walls of mud and branches half a metre thick and an inner chamber reached through a tunnel.
Weight
420 g – 470 g
Size
50 cm – 56 cm
Life expectancy
20 years
