Hamerkop

The Scopus genus comprises wading birds, including the existing hamerkop (Scopus umbretta) and its extinct relative from the Pliocene epoch, Scopus xenopus. These unique birds belong to the family Scopidae, where the hamerkop is the only living species. Initially thought to be related to storks and classified under Ciconiiformes, recent research indicates that hamerkops share a closer kinship with birds in the Pelecaniformes order, specifically pelicans and the shoebill, which are now considered their closest relatives.

Species Categories

African & Green Broadbills African & New World Parrots African Barbets Albatrosses Anhingas, Darters Auks Austral Storm Petrels Barn Owls Bee-eaters Bulbuls Buntings Bushshrikes Bustards Buttonquail Caracaras, Falcons Cettia Bush Warblers & Allies Chats, Old World Flycatchers Cisticolas & Allies Cormorants, Shags Coursers, Pratincoles Cranes Crombecs, African Warblers Crows, Jays Cuckoos Cuckooshrikes Dapple-throat & Allies Drongos Ducks, Geese, Swans Egyptian Plover Fairy Flycatchers Figbirds, Orioles, Turnagra Finches, Euphonias Finfoots Flamingos Flufftails Frigatebirds Gannets, Boobies Grassbirds & Allies Grebes Ground Babblers Ground Hornbills Guineafowl Gulls, Terns, Skimmers Hamerkop Herons, Bitterns Honeyguides Hoopoes Hornbills Hylias Hyliotas Ibises, Spoonbills Indigobirds, Whydahs Jacanas Kingfishers Kites, Hawks, Eagles Larks Laughingthrushes & Allies Leaf Warblers & Allies Monarchs Mousebirds New World Quail Nicators Nightjars Northern Storm Petrels Old World Parrots Old World Sparrows, Snowfinches Ospreys Ostriches Owls Oxpeckers Oystercatchers Painted-snipes Pelicans Penduline Tits Penguins Petrels, Shearwaters, Diving Petrels Pheasants & Allies Pigeons, Doves Pittas Plovers Rails, Crakes & Coots Reed Warblers & Allies Rockfowl Rollers Sandgrouse Sandpipers, Snipes Secretarybird Shoebill Shrikes Skuas Starlings, Rhabdornis Stilts, Avocets Stone-curlews, Thick-knees Storks Streaked Scrub Warbler Sunbirds Swallows, Martins Swifts Sylviid Babblers Thrushes Tits, Chickadees Treecreepers Trogons Tropicbirds Turacos Typical Broadbills Vangas & Allies Wagtails, Pipits Wattle-eyes, Batises Waxbills, Munias & Allies Weavers, Widowbirds White-eyes Wood Hoopoes Woodpeckers Yellow Flycatchers

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What Our Birders Say

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