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WetlandDomed nestLarge · 472 g
ID tip
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. The tail is faintly barred with darker brown. The sexes are alike and fledglings resemble adults. The bill is long, 80 to 85 mm (3.1–3.3 in), and slightly hooked at the end. It resembles the bill of a shoebill, and is quite compressed and thin, particularly at the lower half of the mandible.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Hamerkop
One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is November, the month with the most records.
Where to see the Hamerkop
The map shades 45 countries with regular records, and 1 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.
Recorded as a rare visitor in Austria.
About the Hamerkop
The hamerkop, also called the umbrette, is a medium-sized bird. It is the only living species in the genus Scopus and the family Scopidae. The species and family was long thought to sit with the Ciconiiformes but is now placed with the Pelecaniformes, and its closest relatives are thought to be the pelicans and the shoebill. The shape of its head with a long bill and crest at the back is reminiscent of a hammer, which has given this species its name after the Afrikaans word for hammerhead. It is a medium-sized waterbird with brown plumage.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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