This large raptor is called a secretary bird because of its quilii-like crests on its head that look like clerks in the 18th century because they tucked pens into their wigs. This secretary bird (Sagittarius Serpentarius) is related to eagles and hawks. Apart from their crests in the back, they also have stunning eyelashes like the makeup that models do.
Brian Connolly took these photographs of the secretary bird. He has been photographing nature for ten years. According to him, these birds look unique and hunt snakes on the ground using their dinosaurlooking legs and talons. Indeed, they can kill snakes in the African grasslands. Secretary birds are carnivores who eat different types of prey. Sometimes they travel over 30 km daily to find prey like snakes, insects, and other animals to feed themselves. They eat snakes like adders and even Cobras. Besides snakes, they prefer lizards, amphibians, rodents, and bird eggs. Before eating large animals, they stamped them to death using their big feet, but they ate small ones whole. Their ability to hunt snakes and other insects are admired in Africa.
Secretary birds like to live in grasslands, steppe, and tree-dotted savannas and mostly prefer short grass places because it allows them to hunt their prey easily. They built large nests in Acacia trees or thron trees, and it grows larger year by year. After making their nests, the females lay 2 – 3 oval-shaped eggs over 2 – 3 days. Then the rough textured eggs are incubated for another 45 – 5- days. After birth, they start flapping at 60 days old and developing feathers around 80 days old. Then their parents teach them to hunt.
Scroll down to check out some pictures of this magical creature.
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