Breeding couples will staunchly defend territories of up to four square meters from other shoebills. Whereas storks such as herons will nest in colonies, it is rare to find more than three shoebill nests in one square kilometer. Shoebills are more solitary than other storks. National Geographic describes their hunting technique as ‘collapsing which involves lunging or falling forward on their prey’. Their ‘whale’ beaks are sometimes used to dig into mud beds – homes (their favourite prey) of, lung fish, digging them out of their burrows. There are also reports of them eating rodents. Their diet is not limited to lung fish these great storks will hunt many fish (larger prey than other wading birds) and also small lizards such as young crocodiles and turtles. ![]() They do hunt in deeper water where there are beds of aquatic vegetation to stand upon. They can often be found where waters are poorly oxygenated so fish often need to rise to the surface. It is often stationary, appearing statue like, relying on keen vision to hunt. The shoebill is non migratory, unless its habitat is threatened, which happens by the activities of man. The shoebill feeds on small fish like most other storks such as lungfish.
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