Meet Sushi the friendly shoebill    

Sushi the friendly shoebill    

Sushi is male in as much as many people I tell about him think otherwise. The name sounds like that which would be given to a female. But Sushi seems to wear his name proudly. The male shoebill at the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre commonly known as Entebbe Zoo, is 30 years old.

I meet Sushi during my visit to the centre, where I am guided by the centre’s senior animal keeper Nicholas Muhindo. He leads me to Sushi’s aviary on the western side.

“This one we have this afternoon is called Sushi. He is the oldest we have at the zoo,” Mr Muhindo said. Asked why he was named Sushi, Mr Muhindo said he was given the name because he enjoyed eating fresh fish.

“We named him basically after the food he enjoys eating. He enjoys eating raw fish,” Mr Muhindo said.

As I get closer, Sushi clatters his beak as he walks towards me, lowering his head.

Muhindo then tells me this is one way of greeting me, and so asks me to do the same.

When engaging in these displays, Sushi also utters a cow-like moo as well as high-pitched whines. Looking at how free Sushi is, it is amazing to learn that this type of bird is under threat from especially human beings. The centre’s executive director James Musinguzi says they have five shoebills which were rescued from illegal captivity.

“A shoebill is a highly endangered bird and at the centre here we have five shoebills we have rescued from illegal captivity,” Musinguzi says.

The centre’s public relations officer Isaac Mujaasi adds that they were rescued from various places.

He says Sushi was being kept as a pet by an expatriate who was trying to smuggle him out of the country.

“Sushi was raised as a pet so he is very used to humans compared to the others,” Mujaasi says.

The four others that have not been named yet, and which are aged between six and seven years, were rescued in Mbale with support of Police and the Uganda Wildlife Authority.

“Someone was trying to smuggle them and it is believe was taking them to Czech Republic,” Mujaasi states.

The shoebills, Musinguzi says are such a great tourism product the country has which continues to fascinate and attract many tourists.

“When the visitors get into the exhibit of the shoebill, they undertake what we call the shoebill greeting. The shoebill will bow down and greet the visitors and they will be required to respond. It is such an amazing experience that is attracting many birders in the country,” Musinguzi says.

Shoebills are largely piscivorous (animals that feed on fish) but are assured predators of a considerable range of wetland vertebrates. Their preferred food includes marbled lungfish as well as various Tilapia species and catfish. Other prey eaten by this species includes frogs, water snakes and baby crocodiles. The shoebill stork is a bird is endemic to Sub-saharan Africa and endemic to swamps and can only be found in Zambia, Uganda, DR Congo, Tanzania, and Sudan.

The shoebill derives its name from its massive shoe-shaped bill and lives in tropical East Africa in large swamps. 

Muhindo says those that are kept in captivity survive up to about 65 years due to the good welfare and treatment.

“Like you can see we have given them a real wetland, some good water. They get medication on time if they have any injury or disease and their welfare is better than for those in the wild,” Muhindo says.

One of the unique characteristics of these birds is their solitary nature. They prefer to be alone and can only be seen as a pair or more during breeding time.

“That’s when a pair will get together and they get eggs,” Muhindo reveals.

The numbers globally, of these birds, are said to be drastically reducing due to increased habitat loss.

According to the executive director of Nature Uganda, Achilles Byaruhanga, their numbers are estimated to be around 6,000 birds globally, stating that “Uganda has only 300 birds.”

It is assumed that the bigger numbers of these birds are in the Suds swamp in South Sudan, but because of conflict and insecurity in these areas, proper assessment of the numbers has not be possible.

In Uganda many of these birds can be found in Murchison Falls National Park, Mabamba Wetlands in Mpigi, Rutembe Bay, Lake Opeta - Bisina in Katakwi and around the Kyoga basin.

“Because they exclusively live, breed and feed in wetlands, if you destroy wetlands then the birds will be gone,” Byaruhanga notes.

But beyond habitat loss, the wide breeding gap of the shoebills has also contributed to their low numbers.

“These birds lay between one to three eggs and they will lay them once in five years. Five years is something long,” Muhindo says.

Because of this, the government through the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities has come up with a number of strategies and measures to improve the tourism sector and conservation. One of the measures is formulating a national action plan to conserve the shoebill.

Musinguzi says the action plan will boost the bird’s preservation.

“This bird has a high conservation importance and tourist importance and will be able to bring us many birders from across the world to come and see it which will help improve the tourism of the country,” Mr. Musinguzi said.

He adds that the plan would include education and habitat preservation by rallying support of all stakeholders to come together to implement the action plan.