Shoebill

Balaeniceps rex

A species of large (~ 120 cm) bird, related to pelicans and living mostly in the papyrus marshes of East Africa. The shoebill is the national bird of Uganda.

Also sometimes called the whale-headed stork. Balaeniceps, literally, means "whale-headed".

Other names for the shoebill are:

• Danish: Træskonæb ("clog beak")
• Arabic: Abu Markub ("father of shoes")
• German: Shuhschnabel ("shoe nose")
• French: Bec-en-sabot ("beak-in-clogs")

Apparently, everybody in the world thinks that beak looks like it should be on somebody's foot, rather than adorning the shoebill's head.

Shoe"bill` (?), n. Zool.

A large African wading bird (Balaeniceps rex) allied to the storks and herons, and remarkable for its enormous broad swollen bill. It inhabits the valley of the White Nile. See Illust. (l.) of Beak.

© Webster 1913.