"My mind sees that I am nothing, my heart sees that I am everything, between these two poles my life unfolds."

Friday, February 25, 2011

The Shoebill (aka Whalehead Stork)



I am in love! This bird stole my heart the other night when I was watching the last episode of Joanna Lumley's Nile, a four-part documentary which follows Joanna on an expedition to follow the river Nile from northern Egypt to its source. This was an amazing series and I hope they replay it again at some point. Anyways, I fell head over heels with this very oddly endearing bird. It is a Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex), and lives in the papyrus swamps of the Sudanese Sudd, the Ugandan White Nile, and other wetlands of tropical East Africa. The eyes are icy blue and it stands between 115-150 cm (45-64 in). As you can see from the photos, this is no small bird. I'm not sure why they are also known as the Whalehead Stork; they actually resemble a dinosaur. 






All I need now is my own swamp or wetland!

3 comments:

  1. Why he's so ugly he's cute!! I can see why you fell :)

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  2. Hi Jessica, Thank goodness 'love is blind' lol

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  3. This bird could hurt you! It also oddly looks like a cartoon figure that you may know or recall, called "Birdbrain"

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