Distribution:  Throughout sub-Sahara Africa except forested areas.  Widespread in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, mainly in areas of moderate rainfall.  Scarce in arid north and eastern Kenya.

Habitat:  Frequents grassland, steppe, savannah, open woodland, mountain slopes, farmland and semi-desert.

Food and Feeding Methods:  Prey includes insects (mainly grasshoppers), rodents, snakes, lizards, birds’ eggs and nestlings, scorpions and almost anything that can be caught and overpowered.  Feeds by walking and scanning ground, picking up or pursuing prey.  Sometimes stamps grass tufts to flush prey.     

Though renowned as snake-catchers, they actually feed far less often on snakes than on insects and other items.  Agile prey, including snakes, are dealt with and dispatched with a flurry of kicks with wings held open.  If the prey is too large to be swallowed whole, it is torn up with the bill while held by the bird’s feet.  The secretary bird’s large gape allows it to swallow large prey, and when birds are breeding, food is stored in the crop and brought to the nest, where the male feeds the female during incubation.  When young hatch, she assists the male in securing food and carrying in the same manner to the chicks.

Behavior:  Monogamous, territorial.  Almost always in pairs that occupy and defend territories of 12 to 30 sq. miles.  The focal point of a territory is a nesting or roosting tree to which birds return each evening.  Secretary birds are seen mostly on the ground, walking with long, steady strides, nodding heads to and fro, or stopping to pick up food items.  By day, pair forage together, walking many miles and taking almost any mammal, reptile, bird or insect they can catch and overpower.  During breeding season, they perform aerial displays of undulating flights, dipping and gliding up until stalling.  Secretary bird flies well, like a vulture, on broad wings until very high on thermals.  Usually takes off with a run but can do so from standing position.  When landing, runs several paces with open wings.  Sometimes in groups of 3 to 4 and up to 50 birds at waterholes in arid areas.

Reproduction:  Unlike most birds of prey, secretary birds don’t breed at a regular time of year, probably due to the nature of their diet.  Pairs often go through motions of nest building month after month without laying eggs.  On other occasions, a pair will begin breeding with minimal preliminaries.  Varying behavior patterns are probably responses to differing food conditions.

Nests are placed right on top of a flat-topped tree, usually acacia, where branches are likely to grow up around it, making it less accessible and unlikely to be reused.  The nest is a flat platform of sticks up to 8 feet in diameter, lined with dry grass, dung and regurgitated pellets.  One to 3 (average 2) eggs are laid up to 8 days apart in clutch.  Eggs are oval, white to pale bluish green, unmarked, and 3 x 2 inches in size.  Incubation is 40 to 46 days mostly by female.  Chicks are fed by both parents and fledge after 65 to 105 days.

Status:  Conspicuous but nowhere common. 

Young/Juvenile Appearance:  Chick is downy white with yellow legs and face.  Juvenile has duller color, shorter tail, yellow facial skin and gray eyes.

Voice:  Usually silent.  Makes a hoarse croaking korr-orr-orr during aerial displays and occasionally a mewing call when roosting or on nest.

Adaptations:  The secretary bird’s hooked bill, display flight and breeding behavior are similar to those of eagles, but it also has similarities to other long-legged birds such as cranes and bustards, making it difficult to classify.

Two theories for origin of name exist: that it derived for an Arabic word and because its long crest reminded observers of quill pens used by clerks or secretaries during the 19th century.

Length:          4 - 4 ¾ ft.                               Height:     4 ft.               
Wingspan:    4 - 4 ½ ft.                                 Weight:    7 ½ - 9 ½ lbs.