Sagittariidae
The Key to Scientific Names
Legend Overview
Sagittariidae Secretarybird
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
- Year-round
- Breeding
- Non-breeding
Introduction
On the African savannas, Secretarybirds walk like long-tailed eagles on stilts, hunting, on foot, everything from large insects to hares, but with a predilection for snakes. With their long strides but very soft footfall, they evince a hurried but delicate demeanor. It is thus all the more surprising to see them use the same long legs to kill a newly discovered prey item with swift kicks of their powerful short-toed feet. Snakes that are not so subdued are sometimes thrown into the air or dropped from aloft to complete the job. Named for their distinctive soft head plumes, which resemble old writing quills, Secretarybirds build stereotypically “raptorial” nests of sticks in the tops of small trees.
Habitat
Secretarybirds live in almost any open habitat in sub-Saharan Africa, avoiding only the most dense forests and brush.
Diet and Foraging
Secretarybirds are famous for hunting snakes in the open savanna; however, insects and other arthropods make up the majority of their diet. They use well-aimed kicks and stamps to kill or stun vertebrate prey, and the thick scales on their legs likely protect them from the bites of venomous snakes.
Breeding
Secretarybirds are monogamous with biparental care. Nests consist of large, bulky stick nests built in the top of a tree (often an acacia) on the savanna. Females typically lay 1 to 3 eggs. Both the male and the female are active in nest construction, incubation, brooding, and chick provisioning. The downy chicks hatch asynchronously after 42 to 46 days of incubation, and only one young is usually raised to fledging, which takes place about 80 days after hatching. Food is brought back to the nest in the crop and regurgitated to the young unless the food item is very large. In addition to bringing food, adults will sometimes bring water to the chicks, which they also regurgitate. Fledged young remain with the adults for several weeks, and will roost in the nest for up to three months after fledging.
Conservation Status
Secretarybirds face no pressing conservation threats. They are still common in many areas of Africa, even preferring some farmed areas to unaltered natural areas.
Systematics History
Sagittariidae fits well within Accipitriformes. Because of its unusual morphology, some early taxonomists placed the Secretarybird in Gruiformes, close to Cariamidae, but more recent morphological and genetic studies have consistently grouped it with the other diurnal raptors (Lerner & Mindell 2005, Griffiths et al. 2007, Livezey & Zusi 2007, Hackett et al. 2008), where the Secretarybird is most likely sister to the group that includes both Accipitridae and Pandionidae.
Conservation Status
Least Concern |
0%
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Near Threatened |
0%
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Vulnerable |
0%
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Endangered |
100%
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Critically Endangered |
0%
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Extinct in the Wild |
0%
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Extinct |
0%
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Not Evaluated |
0%
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Data Deficient |
0%
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Unknown |
0%
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Data provided by IUCN (2024) Red List. More information