Are you supposed to bow to a shoebill stork? His behaviour is natural greeting behaviour, but it reminds people of Buckbeak, the hippogriff in the Harry Potter stories. If the visitors don’t bow, Sushi moves away and won’t let them touch him. If visitors bow to him, he bows as well and allows the people to touch him. This “bill-clattering behavior” is also observed when they are greeting another bird. During nesting, the adult shoebill makes awesome machine gun noises, Africa Freak reported. Shoebills are mostly silent as they wait for their prey, but they produce a strange sound that is not common among birds. Granted, shoebills don’t fly very far or very often, but flying is no mean feat considering they can grow up to 1.5m tall and weigh up to 7kg! Do shoebills make gun noises? They may be big, but they can fly if they want to. This terrifying call is created by vibrating their throats and clapping their upper and lower bills together. It has also been compared to a hippopotamus mating call. When meeting a potential mate, shoebills clatter their bills to create a sound similar to a machine gun firing. Why do shoebills sound like a machine gun?

The shoebill stork will not threaten humans, but will only stare right back at them. Researchers studying these birds have been able to come within 6 feet of a shoebill stork on its nest. Shoebill storks are very docile with humans.

Shoebill sound machine gun