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Image by law_keven
Secretary Bird – Eagle Heights – Wildlife Park, Kent, England – Sunday February 24th 2008.
The Secretary Bird, (Sagittarius serpentarius), is a large, mostly terrestrial bird of prey. Endemic to Africa, it is usually found in the open grasslands and savannas of the sub-Sahara. Although a member of the order Falconiformes, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, buzzards, vultures, and harriers, it is so distinctive that it was given its own family, Sagittariidae.
It enjoys a certain fame in Africa, specifically Sudan and South Africa, serving as a prominent emblem on both
The Secretary Bird is instantly recognizable as having an eagle-like body on crane-like legs which increases the bird’s height to around 1.3 m (4 ft) tall. This 140 cm (4.5 ft) long bird has an eagle-like head with a hooked bill, but has rounded wings. Body weight averages at about 3.3 kg (7.3 lbs) and the wingspan is over 2 m (6.6 ft).
From a distance or in flight it resembles a crane more than a bird of prey. The tail has two elongated central feathers that extend beyond the feet during flight, as well as long flat plumage creating a posterior crest. Secretary Bird flight feathers and thighs are black, while most of the coverts are grey with some being white. Sexes look similar to one another as the species exhibits very little sexual dimorphism, although the male has longer head plumes and tail feathers. Adults have a featherless red face as opposed to the yellow facial skin of the young.
Habitat
Secretary Birds are endemic to Sub-Saharan Africa and are non-migratory (although they may follow food sources). Their range is from Senegal to Somalia and south to the Cape of Good Hope. These birds are also found at a variety of elevations, from the coastal plains to the highlands. Secretary Birds prefer open grasslands and savannas rather than forests and dense shrubbery which may impede their cursorial existence. While the birds roost on the local Acacia trees at night, they spend much of the day on the ground, returning to roosting sites just before dark.
Threats
Young are predated by crows and kites as they are vulnerable in Acacia tree tops. As a population, the Secretary Bird is mainly threatened by loss of habitat and deforestation. In 1968 the species became protected under the Africa Convention on the Conservation of tNature and Natural Resources.
Diet
The Secretary Bird is largely terrestrial, hunting its prey on foot, and other than the caracara (such as Polyborus plancus), is the only bird of prey to do so habitually. Adults hunt in pairs and sometimes as loose familial flocks, stalking through the habitat with long strides. Prey consists of insects, small mammals, lizards, snakes, young birds, bird eggs, and sometimes dead animals killed in brush fires. Larger herbivores are not hunted, although there are some reports of Secretary Birds killing young gazelles.
Young are fed liquified and regurgitated insects directly by the male or female parent and are eventually weaned to small mammals and reptile fragments regurgitated onto the nest itself. The above foodstuffs are originally stored in the crop of the adults.
Secretary Birds have two distinct feeding strategies that are both executed on land. They can either catch prey by chasing it and striking with the bill, or stamping on prey until it is rendered stunned or unconscious enough to swallow. Studies of this latter strategy have helped construct the possible feeding mechanisms employed by dinosaur-like ‘terror birds’ that once walked the earth five million years ago.
half a moon and one whole bird
Image by Grant MacDonald
Highest Explore position: 75 on Friday, March 27, 2009
