It rinses its beak and drinks water afterwards. A swift movement helps it to eject the superfluous, the sharp edges of the bill fatally wounding the fish or snake. It does not spear like herons, but 'scoops' sideways with its distinctive bill. The capture is impressive for its speed and power. Often alert, whether in the open or not, it will stiffen upon sighting it, unfold its neck, and with a sharp lunge thrusts its head into the water (wings spread to ensure balance). It will regularly stop to try to pinpoint a prey. In its search for food, often nocturnal, it will stride the shallow, wet areas with slow, long strides, its head bent to maximize its binocular vision. Loose, small groups may however occasionally form in areas where the fish resource is abundant and concentrated (dry season). (* Air-breathing bony fish which bury themselves in the mud when the water is running low.)
To feed at the end of the dry season, the Shoebill: exhumes protoptera* from the mud. The mandibles have sharp edges to facilitate the capture and ingestion of prey. Moreover, the morphology of its beak is explained as an impressive adaptation to a highly specialized method of capture. The upper mandible has a hook, which allows for grooming, rolling eggs or holding slippery prey. The singular shape of its beak, yellowish and rosy with dark gray spots, earned it, in Sudan, the name of Abu-marqub, that is: Father of the slipper.This huge bird, with its bulbous and curved beak, is 23 cm long and 10 cm wide and has a very characteristic shape. The color of the iris is dark yellow in the chick this chromatic dominant attenuates to practically disappear at the age of sexual maturity. The eyes, located in front of the head, allow it to have binocular vision, facilitating the detection of prey. The imposing and pyriform head presents a small tuft of feathers at the top of the occiput. The tarsi, strong and long, are finished with 4 large fingers with nails but without interdigital membranes. Determining the sex of an isolated bird is not possible. Sexual dimorphism is very little marked in fact, only a subtle difference in size and size of the beak can distinguish the two sexes. Juveniles are slightly browner than adults. The ventral parts are gray, slightly lighter. The upper coverings have an anthracite gray tendency. The Shoebill's plumage remains the same all year round, ranging from gray to blue-gray. DNA studies, conducted by Sibley and Ahlquist, have allowed it to be classified in the order of Pelicans. Many myths and legends surround this wading bird that presents similarities (physical, anatomical, biological or behavioral) with both pelicans, marabouts, storks, Ospreys and Ardeidae (other than Ciconiiformes). Discovered and described by Westerners at the end of the 19th century, the Shoebill can seem, with its aesthetics, to come out of prehistory. Shoebill is a monotypic species, the only member of the family Balaenicipitidae, endemic to the African continent.