Shoe-Billed Stork measures 11 inches. Shoebill Skull Replica Model is museum quality polyurethane cast. Made in USA. 2-part skull (separate cranium and jaw).
The Shoe-billed Stork is a tall bird, with a typical height range of 43 to 55 in. and some specimens reaching as much as 60 in.
Length from tail to beak can range from 39 to 55 in. and wingspan is 7 ft 7 in to 8 ft 6 in. Weight has reportedly ranged from 8.8 to 15.4 lb.
The signature feature of the Shoe-billed Stork species is its huge, bulbous bill, which is straw-colored with erratic greyish markings.
The exposed culmen (or the measurement along the top of the upper mandible) is 7.4 to 9.4 in., the third longest bill among extant birds after pelicans and large storks, and can outrival the pelicans in bill circumference.
As in the pelicans, the upper mandible is strongly keeled, ending in a sharp nail. The dark colored legs are fairly long, with a tarsus length of 8.5 to 10.0 in.
The Shoe-billed Stork’s feet are exceptionally large, with the middle toe reaching 6.6 to 7.3 in. in length, likely assisting the species in its ability to stand on aquatic vegetation while hunting.
The neck is relatively shorter and thicker than other long-legged wading birds such as herons and cranes. The wings are broad, with a wing chord length of 23.1 to 30.7 in., and well-adapted to soaring.
The plumage of adult Shoe-billed Stork birds is blue-grey with darker slaty-grey flight feathers. The breast presents some elongated feathers, which have dark shafts.
The juvenile has a similar plumage color, but is a darker grey with a brown tinge. When they are first born, shoebills have a more modestly-sized bill, which is initially silvery-grey.
The bill becomes more noticeably large when the chicks are 23 days old and becomes well developed by 43 days.
The Shoe-billed Stork is normally silent, but they perform bill-clattering displays at the nest. When engaging in these displays, adult birds have also been noted to utter a cow-like moo as well as high-pitched whines.
Both nestlings and adults engage in bill-clattering during the nesting season as a means of communication. When young are begging for food, they call out with a sound uncannily like human hiccups.
Its wings are held flat while soaring and, as in the pelicans and the storks of the genus Leptoptilos.
The shoebill flies with its neck retracted. Its flapping rate, at an estimated 150 flaps per minute, is one of the slowest of any bird, with the exception of the larger stork species.
The pattern is alternating flapping and gliding cycles of approximately seven seconds each, putting its gliding distance somewhere between the larger storks and the Andean condor.
When flushed, Shoe-billed Stork usually try to fly no more than 330 to 1,640 ft. Long flights of the shoebill are rare, and only a few flights beyond its minimum foraging distance of 66 ft. have been recorded.
