© Johann Du Toit
© Johann Du Toit
A large bird of prey, most closely related to the vultures, the Secretary Bird is mainly found in monogamous pairs, hunting the grasslands on foot at a pace of nearly 3kms/h. The name is thought to be derived from the quills on the neck, but a likely explanation also lies in being derived from the Arabic name ‘Saqr-et-Tair’ which means the ‘hunter bird’.
The body is mainly pale grey with black on some feathers. The facial skin is yellow in immature, orange in females and redder in males. It often holds the wings out when stamping or pursuing kills, 5% of which are Snakes and swallowed whole.
The nest is usually found on top of Acacia, Boscia and Balanites species and are up to 2.5 m in diameter. The two oval, white or blue-green eggs are incubated for 40-46 days by mainly the female and nestling period lasts 65-106 days.
