Distribution:  Throughout Africa south of Sahara, Madagascar and SW Arabia.

Habitat:  Most inland waters: swamp edges, lakesides, sluggish rivers and streams, and even roadside pools filled with rainwater.  Wanders to flood waters and coastal lagoons.

Food and Feeding Methods:  Feeds largely on amphibians in and near shallow water.  Also takes fish, crustaceans and invertebrates, but rarely small mammals.  Forages by wading in or around shallow water, sometimes stirring mud with feet or probing mud with bill to disturb prey.  Also forages by flying slowly over water and snatching food from surface with bill. 
 
Behavior:  Diurnal.  Usually solitary, but sometimes in pairs or small groups of 4 to 5.  Birds sometimes congregate in groups to perform dance or display, accompanied by excited calling and squawking.  One bird hops on another’s back, stretches wings, flicks tail and raises crest.  This display is repeated by other birds in the group.  Similar display or ‘false mounting’ is also seen during courtship between male and female.  Flight is buoyant on large, broad wings, somewhat jerky with flaps and glides, and extended neck.

Reproduction:  Breed in most months. Both sexes build massive oven-shaped or domed nests in stout fork of tree, cliff ledge or rock in river at any height up to 65 feet; nests are rarely built on ground or sandbanks.  Nests, measuring up to 7 feet in diameter, may be built cooperatively by 4 or more birds and take 3 weeks to 6 months to complete.  Weighing 55 to 110 pounds, they can withstand the weight of a full-grown man.

Nest is started as a bowl of sticks, reeds and straw, then sides and roof of more substantial sticks are added and covered with straw and other debris to a thickness of 3 feet or more.  The floor and lower sides of the chamber are plastered with mud and the upper sides are neatly paneled with horizontally laid sticks.  The small, round entrance is also plastered with mud and faces outward and downward to the least accessible part of the site for better protection from predators.  Material is continually added by both sexes. Despite enormous effort that goes into building nest, hamerkops often lose out to squatters, such as bees, owls and other birds; Egyptian geese, ducks and owls also breed on top of structures. 

Three to 6 eggs are laid in clutch.  Eggs are rounded oval, white, coarse-textured, and about 1 ¾ x 1 ½ inches in size.  Incubation is 28 to 32 days by both sexes.  Young are fed by both parents and fledge after 44 to 50 days.

Status:  Widespread and fairly common resident in most areas.  Nomadic in more arid zones, according to rainfall.

Young/Juvenile Appearance:  Chick is covered with pale smoky-gray down; feathers of head and crest develop quickly, rest of feathers later.  Young have pinkish legs that turn brown later.  Juvenile resembles adult.

Voice:  Usually silent when solitary but vocal in groups.  Loud, strident yelping and trumpeting of varying tempo: yiip-purrr, yik-yik-yik-purrr-purr-yik-yik.  Sometimes in chorus.

Adaptations:  A puzzle to ornithologists, the hamerkop is placed between herons and storks, though very different from both. 

Treated with respect and awe by indigenous people due to its strange and raucous call and its unusual nest. 

Will often decorate massive nests with any found objects, such as feathers, bits of skin, pieces of plastic or cloth, tins, cardboard and other rubbish.

Length:    19 - 22 in.                Wingspan:    3 ft.                  Weight:    14 ½ - 15 ounces