Tarique's Travails

Hamerkop - Scopus umbretta

So you have been waiting for the first image from my trip to East Africa. I could have put in many other dramatic things like the Lion, Rhino, Cheetah or the Hippo but I felt that those mammals are rather cliched. So I decided to put a common but unique bird

Hammerkop, Scopus umbretta is a monotypic family species restricted to Africa Easily identified from any other bird by unique shape of its head. In a flight it can be mistaken for a small eagle. The nest of this bird is unusually large which they may share with other species like Kestrel, Eagle-owl or even Egyptian goose.

There are many legends about the Hamerkop. In some regions, people state that other birds help it build its nest. The Xam informants of Wilhelm Bleek said that when a Hamerkop flew and called over their camp, they knew that someone close to them had died. It is known in some cultures as the lightning bird, and the Kalahari Bushmen believe or believed that being hit by lightning resulted from trying to rob a Hamerkop’s nest. They also believe that the inimical god Khauna would not like anyone to kill a Hamerkop. According to an old Malagasy belief, anyone who destroys its nest will get leprosy, and a Malagasy poem calls it an “evil bird”. Such beliefs have given the bird some protection.

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamerkop