Image via James Lee/ Pexels.
The secretary bird is a fascinating mix of elegance and executioner. This bird, sporting a delicate crown of feathers, has long slender legs that it uses as weapons to stomp snakes to death. Secretary birds can deliver blows to snakes faster than the blink of an eye, quite literally!
The lovely and lethal secretary bird
Secretary birds have a striking appearance. But they’re also fierce predators. They’re birds of prey, just like eagles, hawks and owls.
Yet secretary birds have a unique way of hunting. Instead of attacking their prey from the air, they do so from the ground. And their favorite prey is snakes. When a secretary bird locates a snake, it stomps on its head with its strong legs and sharp claws.
The bird’s legs are curiously strong, considering that its bones are hollow. But the hollow bones allow for a lower weight, allowing these big birds to fly gracefully through the sky. In fact, they can fly up to 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) high.
So, secretary birds are imposing creatures that can reach 4 feet (1.3 meters) tall with a wingspan of 6.5 feet (2 meters). However, they’re quite light for their size, weighing between 5 to 10 pounds (2.3 and 4.5 kg).
These birds are widely spread in sub-Saharan Africa. They inhabit the savannahs from Somalia to Senegal and from Kenya to South Africa.
A deadly stomp
The legs of secretary birds are not only long and elegant, but they’re also stomping machines. Their legs are precise and lethal weapons. When these birds find a snake (venomous or not), they aim for its head and stomp on it ferociously. These stomps can have a force of up to 44 pounds (20 kg), which is five times their own weight. In addition, their sharp claws allow them to shred the flesh, along with some help from their beaks.
As a safety measure against the venom of some snakes, the secretary bird uses fast strikes lasting only 15 milliseconds. That’s faster than the blink of an eye! And, more importantly, it’s faster than the reaction of the snake.
Also, their avant-garde plumage is not simply a beautiful visual element, but it serves as a distraction. When hunting, these birds shake their tail and wing feathers to distract snakes from biting their legs. In addition, they can raise their head feathers during the hunt. This strategy serves to scare the target and provide shade for the bird’s face when hunting.
Measuring a secretary bird strength with a rubber snake.
Other features of secretary birds
Secretary birds have exquisite eyelashes. These are modified feathers that prevent dust particles from getting into the bird’s eyes when it is stomping and kicking up dust. After all, sight is one of its most important senses and its vision must be protected.
These birds often drive their prey out of tall grass by trampling the surrounding vegetation. In addition to snakes, secretary birds feed on insects such as locusts and beetles, small mammals such as mice, hares and mongooses, and also crabs, lizards and small birds.
Secretary birds are monogamous
But these beautiful and strong birds are no Don Juan … it turns out they’re monogamous. The males perform a flight display when looking for a mate, and if the female likes it, the couple forms a bond that will last a lifetime.
Together, they build a giant nest high up in a thorny tree, usually an acacia. The male collects branches and carries them with his beak. Then, the female carefully places them in the treetops. The nests measure around 60 inches (1.5 meters), enough to accommodate two adult birds and a couple of babies.
Raising young
Secretary birds may be fierce, but, on the other hand, they can also be tender. Parental care does not end at the nest. After 80 days, the chicks leave the nest, but the parents stay close by until the babies learn to hunt on their own.
And when that baby has grown up and is looking for a mate, it bows. These couples treat each other with great care and respect. During courtship, they keep bowing up and down.
How did it get that name?
As for the name, there are several hypotheses, but they all have to do with that beautiful crown of feathers on its head. The most widespread theory is that the feathers on its head are reminiscent of British secretaries in the 18th century, who used goose feathers to write with and put them in their hair when they weren’t writing.
Another theory is that the word comes from the Arabic saqr-et-air, which means hunting bird. The Arabic word, without a doubt, is the one that best does justice to this impressive and lethal bird. However, this is an incorrect translation into French.
Speaking of Europe … Europeans were dazzled by its elegance. The name may also come from Sagittarius, which means archer in Greek. The feathers on the bird’s head resemble arrows sticking out of an archer’s quiver. This bird’s scientific name is Sagittarius serpentarius.
A depiction from ancient Egypt
So impressive are these beautiful killers that they have attracted the gaze of the world for thousands of years. Even the ancient Egyptians admired them. Images of secretary birds have been found in the temple of Hatshepsut. The carvings seem to show that people gave secretary birds to kings as gifts.
Bottom line: Meet the secretary bird: an elegant, beautiful bird, and a snake’s worst nightmare!
The shoebill stork is our fierce lifeform of the week
Flamingos are beautiful and peculiar: Lifeform of the week
Source link
Read More
thesportsocean
Read our previous article: 2 NASA missions will carpool on a SpaceX rocket this Friday to help map the cosmos