It's possible that you've run across this rather horrific image recently. It's been showing up in blogs or inboxes for a couple of months now. Most of the times that I've seen it, the suggestion has been that the jig is up for the duck. Teachable moment here. The large bird is a shoebill (Balaeniceps rex), a large, pelican-like bird that lives in the swamps of tropical east Africa. Adults may stand 5 feet tall with a wingspan approaching 10 feet. The common name refers to the distinctive shape of the bird's beak, better seen in an image without an obstructing duck. The beak is well-suited for scooping up prey in aquatic habitats. Like so many of the world's more interesting animals, the shoebill is in trouble. Estimates put the number of surviving shoebills at less than 10,000, and it is considered vulnerable to extinction. As with most threatened species, habitat destruction poses the greatest danger.

Turns out that the story has a happy ending. The photo was actually shot by Mark Kay at the San Diego Zoo. The shoebill was apparently simply moving the duck out of its path. Other photographs taken by Dr. Kay illustrate the outcome.

While perhaps not as exciting, the actual feeding habits of shoebills are fairly interesting. They wade in the east African swamps in search of fish, frogs, small crocodiles, and, yes, sometimes even small waterfowl. One of their preferred items, though, is the African lungfish. Follow the link for some remarkable footage of a shoebill catching and eating a lungfish.