Species name: Secretary Bird

Scientific name: Sagittarius serpentarius

Weight: Male and female: 2.3kg – 4.5kg

Height: Male and female: 90cm – 130cm

General Habitat: They prefer open savanna plains and grasslands.

Diet: Carnivorous. They will eat snakes and a variety of other reptiles, amphibians, young birds, small mammals and insects.

Most of you might wonder where the name “Secretary Bird” came from. Many people believe the Secretary Bird got its name from the quill feathers on its head resembling the pens secretaries used way back then. A more valid reason might be that the Arabic name “saqr-et-tair” meaning ‘hunter bird’ was corrupted to “Secretary Bird”.

Secretary Birds are basically massive eagles with super long legs that spends most of their time on the ground. They do fall under their own family but are closely associated to diurnal raptors.

Their long legs, strong claws and flame sharp bill makes them very affective hunters. Once they have found prey, they will normally kill it with lightning fast downward blows from their robust feet. They do sometimes open their wings to give them balance while chasing down prey. When the prey is killed, they will usually swallow it whole or bite chunks out of it by using their sharp bill. The lower part of their legs is lined with tough scales to protect them from injuries inflicted by prey, especially snake bites. Their long legs allow them to travel up to thirty kilometres a day in search of prey.

They build massive nests, usually on top of flat-topped trees, such as Acacia Trees. They will lay 1-3 eggs and on rare occasions, even 4 eggs. The female will do most of the incubation and the male will feed her during this period. When the chicks are hatched, both male and female will feed the chicks by regurgitating food that they had stored in their crops from the previous hunt. When the chicks are a little bit older, the parents will bring them food, such as small snakes and mammals, which they will swallow whole. It is believed that in hot weather conditions, the parents will even regurgitate water to the chicks. The parents will also defecate over the nest’s edge and not in the nest to keep the nest, eggs and chicks clean. If conditions are good and food is in abundance, all chicks will survive and fledge.

It is amazing to see how much the Secretary Bird’s parents care for their young and to see their incredible hunting behaviour, so come and join us on a Sabi Sabi safari and you might get to see this beautiful, unique bird.

My Memorable Sighting

A few months ago, as I was driving past a big open area close to Little Bush Camp when my tracker, Zeblon, spotted a Secretary Bird right in the middle of the open plain. We were filled with excitement because we don’t get to see Secretary Birds too often. While looking at the Secretary Bird through a pair of binoculars, we noticed that it was kicking an old pile of elephant dung around, probably in search of food amongst the dung. It almost looked like the Secretary Bird was practicing for the next soccer World Cup, as it kicked the dung around as a soccer player would a soccer ball!! We could not help but laugh at the Secretary Bird, but at the same time admire its beauty and athletic display.

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