Unique waterbird endemic to Africa and Madagascar. The shape of its head with a long bill and crest at the back is reminiscent of a hammer, hence its name.
They are always associated with water where they prey of fish and frogs.They have comparatively long and broad wings with 'finger tips' at the end. Their flight is manouverable with lots of gliding.
They may forage over water, with dangling feet, snatching objects from the surface. They also catch prey in the shallows along the water's edge, where they will use their feet to disturb the botton sediments to flush prey which they stab and grab with their bill. They can beat their prey against the ground or a rock with swipes of the head. This can be done to kill or incapacitat the prey to make it easier to rotate it so it can be swallowed head-first. In the case of poisonous prey, this may also serve to knock the poisonous slime of the body, which is aided by dipping the prey in the water before beating it agiangst ground or rocks.
They are monogamous and build enormous domed nests, 1 - 2 meters high, of sticks and grass, vegetable debris and other items, usually placde in a tree or on a cliff. They lay 4 - 5 whitish egss. Incubation is done by the female, but the young are fed by both sexes.

Scopus = a broom of brush, in reference to crest.

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