Secretarybird
Sagittarius serpentarius
Also known as: Secretary Bird
Habitat
Ground
Diet
Invertebrate
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
4.0 kg
About This Species
Look for this long-legged raptor striding deliberately through open grassland, savanna, and lightly bushed plains, often covering many kilometers on foot each day as it hunts for snakes, lizards, rodents, and large insects by stomping prey with powerful feet. At dawn and dusk — when activity peaks — scan wide, short-grass areas for its distinctive silhouette: an upright, crane-like posture, fanned black crest feathers, and a long wedge-shaped tail that extends well beyond the wings when perched on a low acacia or termite mound. Dry-season mornings offer the clearest sightings, when tall grass has receded and pairs can be tracked across exposed ground, occasionally rising into a labored but graceful soaring display flight accompanied by loud, croaking calls reminiscent of a crane.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Maintain a minimum distance of 200 metres at all times, and use a spotting scope or telephoto lens rather than approaching closer, particularly near nesting pairs or birds foraging on foot.
- As an Endangered species, it receives legal protection across much of its range, including under South Africa's National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (NEMBA), Botswana's Wildlife Conservation and National Parks Act, and relevant national legislation in other range states, with disturbance or collection of individuals or nests constituting a criminal offence in most jurisdictions.
- Avoid lingering near active nests on their characteristic flat-topped acacia platforms, never flush birds intentionally, and report any nest locations only to verified conservation programmes rather than publicly, to reduce the risk of disturbance or persecution.
Seasonal Activity
54,409 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Sagittariidae
Traits
- Diet
- Invertebrate
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 4.0 kg
Photo
Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.