The Hamerkop prefers wetland habitats such as all types of shallow slow moving or still waters including irrigated land such as rice fields, also savannas and forests. Territories are dominated by pairs. Hamerkops move in quickly when new bodies of water occur such as dams or canals.

Hamerkops usually feed alone or in pairs and mainly during the daytime, taking a rest at noon to roost. Their diet consists of mainly aquatic invertebrates and they will also eat fish, insects, shrimp and rodents. They wade through shallow water searching for prey. To flush prey out of hiding, they rake their feet through the water bed or flap their wings to startle what ever is hiding in the mud or under rocks.

They are soaring birds who fly with slow wing beats and stretch their necks forward when in flight. When flapping their wings, their necks coil backwards. Hamerkops are vocal birds when in groups and produce ‘keks’, ‘yips’ and shrills when in flight, otherwise they are generally silent birds particularly when alone. It will often perch on the backs of hippopotamuses, spying the ground for frogs.