The SECRETARY BIRD

Take note! The Secretary Bird was one of the most unexpected and amazing animals we saw on safari. Common on the grassland and savanna we drove through every day, these birds stand four feet tall with an eagle-shaped body atop crane-like long legs, long tail feathers protruding from the back. Easy to spot because of their large size, they move about on the ground, hunting for insects, small mammals, and reptiles to eat, only taking to the air to escape danger or fly to their nests, which sit atop thorny bushes or flat-topped trees.

They fascinated me for two reasons, the first of which was their unique appearance. Stiff black feathers stick out from the back of their heads, reminding one of the quill pens that secretaries used to stick behind their ears, hence the name. Their impressive visual presence made them hard to ignore, capturing ones attention when scanning the landscape for anything that moved.

Also impressive was the fascinating manner in which they kill their prey, stomping it to death with their feet, and then swallowing it whole! They can be seen flushing their meals out by stomping on and near the vegetation in which it hides, and then killing it with the same foot action. Perhaps what impressed me most is that they are snake killers, preying on the venomous adders and cobras by stomping on their heads. Perhaps the scale-like covering of the feet and legs protects them from snakebite even as their long legs keep the more vulnerable parts of their bodies out of reach. When I heard this about them, suddenly I had a visual reference that brought the words of Psalm 91 amazingly and vibrantly alive, in this land where both lions and snakes abound:

“You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.”

(Psalm 91:13)