a beautiful little face, which looks as though it has
been painted with orange eye-shadow; long, curvy eyelashes and brown eyes. Male and female look alike,
however the male is larger. Juveniles have a slightly
browner plumage and a yellow face.
Distribution, habitat & diet
The Secretarybird is distributed throughout Africa, preferring open country. It can also be found on mountain slopes, savannah, semi-desert regions, farmlands
and open woodlands. The diet consists of mainly insects, but includes snakes and a variety of small animals.
Behavior & hunting techniques
The Secretarybird starts foraging shortly after dawn,
striding across open veld at approximately 2.5-3km/h.
It stamps the ground to disturb prey, which it then pulverizes with its feet before swallowing whole. While it
soars well, the Secretarybird seldom flies. At night, a
pair will usually roost on the nest tree.
Breeding
Secretary birds breed at any time during the year when
food is abundant, however are most active during July
to January. They lay 1-3 eggs in a nest made-up of a
large platform of sticks, which is lined with grass. The
nests are usually located on the top of thorny trees or
bushes. Eggs are incubated for 42-46 days, mostly by
the female. Both parents feed the nestlings for a period of 75-85 days. Although 3 eggs may be laid, generally only 2 chicks survive due either to the third egg
being infertile, or the third chick dying of starvation.
Here’s to you Mary-Lou!
Visitors to Eagle Encounters in its early days will certainly remember meeting Mary-Lou - our statuesque,
graceful and gentle-natured Secretarybird. On the 8th
August 2002, the management and staff of Eagle Encounters endured one of the most dreaded pitfalls associated with rehabilitation. After exploring every possible alternative, with very heavy hearts we had to
make the only humane decision to euthenase our beloved Mary-Lou.
Mary-Lou was sent to us from a recognized rehabilitation centre based in Saldanha, where she was temporarily cared for after having had her left wing savagely
mauled by dogs. When we received her we noticed
that she was also blind in her left eye, possibly due to
an old, untreated puncture from a foreign object. Further assessment revealed that Mary-Lou also had a
chronic calcium deficiency, which provides overwhelming evidence that she had been hand-reared by someone lacking the knowledge and experience necessary
for raising a bird of prey. Considering her background