Pair of rare birds raising chick at Tampa zoo

A pair of rare birds at Lowry Park Zoo is doing something no other pair has done in North America.

They're raising a chick.

The African shoebill storks became parents on Christmas Day when the chick started to break through its shell. It was a textbook hatching, taking about 24 hours to fully emerge. The parents, who spent nine months learning how to build a nest and who accidentally crushed another egg in October, have been natural caregivers.

"We are amazed at how by-the-book they've been," aviary assistant curator Julie Tomita said. "They know when to do everything and how to do everything."

Lowry Park Zoo is only the second wildlife establishment in the world to have a successful live birth of this large bird. Most of the data about them comes from field studies in Africa. Now researchers are watching this new family from dawn to dusk.

"We'll definitely be publishing and we'll do presentations at our industry conferences," Dr. Larry Killmar, the zoo's director of collections, said. "We're not sitting in the middle of a swamp using long-distance binoculars; we're pretty close and able to document the frequency of feeding, the amount of food and that will again help the other holders of other birds in captivity."

There have already been a few surprises. Experts thought the incubation period for the egg was between 30 and 40 days. This chick took 45 days to begin emerging. And the cold doesn't seem to be bothering the bird. Most of the time, it's burrowed beneath a parent, nestled deep in the nest that has 1.5-foot walls made out of grass.

African shoebills are tall, measuring 3.5 to 4 feet, with unusually large bills up to 12 inches long and five inches wide that resemble the shape of a wooden shoe. A broad wingspan and long, strong legs give this rare bird a stork-like appearance.

There are only 12 of these large birds in North American zoos; four of them live at Lowry Park Zoo. Killmar hopes this pair's successful parenting will inspire the other pair to have their own family soon.

Bird-lovers can see the stork family for themselves, but it takes some effort. The best place to view the nest: from the back of a camel on the camel ride. The storks built their nest along the fence separating the camel area from the North Lake.

And Tomita has one other recommendation. "Bring binoculars."