Secretary Bird
|
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
The Secretary bird is a bird of prey, but unlike other raptors it has long legs, wings and a tail. The single species of its family, the bird gets its name from its crest of long feathers that look like the quill pens 19th century office workers used to tuck behind their ears.
The bird is basically dove-grey in color, with black on the wings, thighs and elongated central tail feathers. The short, down-curved bill is backed by an area of bare, red and yellow skin. The Secretary bird stands three feet high.
DISTRIBUTION and HABITAT:
The Secretary bird is widespread throughout Africa south of the Sahara.
It is found in open areas of plains and savanna country, and often congregates at areas that have been recently burnt, where mammals are deprived of cover and often injured.
|
BEHAVIOR:
These birds are basically terrestrial, taking to flight only when hard-pressed. Usually only single birds are found, with members of a pair some distance apart.
The Secretary bird walks well on extremely long legs, and a bird may plod up to twenty miles in a day. When pursued, it relies on its speed to escape.
It finds most of its food on the ground and has a partiality for snakes. It grabs the snake with its strong toes and beats it to death on the ground, while protecting itself from bites with its large wings. Finally, it seizes its prey and hurls it into the air several times to stun it. (In South Africa, these birds are kept in captivity to destroy snakes and rats.)
In addition to finding food with its beak, the Secretary bird will also stamp on grass tussocks with its feet to scare up lizards, grasshoppers, and small mammals or birds.
DIET:
Secretary birds consume snakes, other reptiles, amphibians, tortoises, rats and other small mammals as well as young game birds.
REPRODUCTION and GROWTH:
Secretary birds pair for life and are remarkably faithful to their nest site. The nest is generally placed low in the fork of a tree, usually an acacia. The huge bundle of sticks grows year by year in the manner of an eagle's eyrie.
The two, occasionally three, rough textured, white eggs take about 50 days to hatch, and the downy young are fed on a diet of small mammals. They fly after about eight weeks.
LINKS:
