From Opus

Scopus umbretta

Photo by jdbirdman.
Photo taken: Hluhluwe-Umfolozi, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

[edit] Identification

L. 48 - 56 cm
Wt. up to 535 g

• Heavy crest
• Flattened black bill
  • Heavy, deep and straight
• Black legs and feet
• Brown eye

[edit] Distribution

Africa south of the Sahara, Madagascar and south-west Arabia.

[edit] Taxonomy

Scopus umbretta has two subspecies:^[1]

• S. u. umbretta

• Tropical Africa, Madagascar and south-western Arabia

• S. u. minor

• Coastal western Africa (Sierra Leone to western Cameroon)

[edit] Habitat

Rivers and streams, dams, wetlands or even small rainwater puddles.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

Diet includes frogs, fish or aquatic invertebrates.

[edit] Breeding

They build a huge nest made of sticks, reeds, weeds and debris, and it is placed in the stout fork of a large tree, on a cliff ledge, on large rock or even on the ground. It has an entrance on the underside.

[edit] Voice

Loud, high pitched yelping sound: yip-purrr....yik-yik-yik-yik-purrrr, purr-yik-yik, sometimes in chorus.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.

• List of references

[edit] External Links