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Project Noah Nature School
Sagittarius serpentarius
The Secretary Bird is instantly recognizable as having an eagle-like body on crane-like legs which increases the bird’s height to as much as 1.3 m (4 ft) tall. This bird has an eagle-like head with a hooked bill, but has rounded wings.
Spotted on Mar 20, 2010
Submitted on Mar 20, 2013
15 Comments
Yes Leter, don't you just love those Revlon lashes!
Just love secretary birds. I'm sure this one was on the verge of giving you a wink! Great pic!
Very nice!
Thanks Mari and Elaphrus; the first photo was taken of a captive bird, a bit of a cheat :); it had broken it's leg previously; so it will not survive in the wild ; so it now lives in the beautiful winelands at Spier. Caretakers have a rubber snake that it amuses itself with!
What a wonderful creature, and a wonderful photo.
stunning! quite jealous! haven't seen one of these yet!
Thanks Laura!
Such an awesome spotting! I always think that these birds are probably the ones that look most similar to their dinosaur cousins. Great photos!
Thank you Leanne! Karen, that must have been an amazing sight indeed! I have added another photo of one in flight...rather clumsy I must say!
Lovely shot Wendy! I was lucky enough to see a pair of males fighting over the affections of a very disinterested looking female - they were very imposing looking.
Oh it's beautiful!
Thank you, yes they are pretty; one can picture it being a Seretary, the name "secretary bird" was long thought to have been derived from the elaborate feathers that adorn the back of the bird's head, since these feathers resemble the quill feathers that are used as pens. But the true origin of the name remains unclear, another possible explanation of the name "secretary bird" is that it was derived from the Arabic phrase "saqr-et-tair" or "hunter-bird".
Weird looking bird .......... love the eyelashes ..... but could probably benefit from a little mascara!! Great shot!
What an unusual bird.
Wow! Lovely!