Earlier this month we featured footage of an enormous, dinosaur-like shoebill that had landed on a tour boat in Uganda.
The ominous-looking bird, with its bulbous, razor-sharp bill, stood perhaps 4 feet tall with a 7-foot wingspan.
Shoebill on boat at Mabamba Swamp.
The shoebill appeared larger because of the angle at which it was photographed. But it was still massive and undoubtedly stunning for tourists on Mabamba Trips’ Nov. 10 tour of Mabamba Swamp.
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The accompanying Instagram post inspired at least one follower to question whether the footage had been altered by artificial intelligence.
More recently, Muhumuza Innocent Braddoco, a.k.a Innocent the Guide, told FTW Outdoors, “I don’t do fake posts.”
Innocent the Guide added that while it’s common to spot shoebills at Mabamba Swamp, a protected zone on Lake Victoria’s shore, the wading birds are not know for landing on tour boats.
“We were all shocked to see such a moment,” Innocent the Guide told me. “It’s rare, once in a lifetime.”
The guide sent a “selfie” of the same shoebill during the same encounter, and it lends a more accurate perspective of the size of the shoebill.
Innocent the Guide’s shoebill selfie.
The stork-like birds are classified as “Vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). There are only 3,300 to 5,300 mature shoebills remaining.
They’ re not considered dangerous to humans, but they are efficient hunters, preying mostly on fish but also on wetland critters such as water snakes, Nile monitors, and even baby crocodiles.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Guide recalls rare encounter with giant, dinosaur-like shoebill bird