The Shaolin Worthy - Secretary Bird

Masai Mara National Reserve

A couple of my posts from last month were about the odd nature of bird names and my take on the reasons behind us being stuck with such ridiculous names for some of the most beautiful creatures in the world. Be it the Babblers, Tits or Laughingthrushes, I guess the mess with their names becomes the comic relief in the story of the journey of Humans figuring out all the creatures on this planet when you look at the whole thing together. We also have to understand that our sensibilities are different now as compared to the time of the supposed discovery of these creatures and perhaps that’s why people have named animals and birds after themselves and even shared their family names with these creatures to secure a place in history. The world was just a different place back then I guess and the same became pretty clear for us when we were driving around Masai Mara one morning and our run in with an odd looking, tall, black and white bird made David, our guide and driver announce “The Secretary Bird”. My obvious reaction to him at that moment was, “The WHAT ! dude ?”.

David went on to explain that the long legged bird in front of us with its black and white colour combination inspired that name because its long legs and feathers made it look like a secretary in stilettos, tights and a short skirt and that name stuck. We chuckled a little at the long standing joke but it wasn’t surprising really in hindsight because we know that the people doing the naming were pretty used to seeing their domestic and office help in those colours. Just look at any uniform around the colonial times and it’s clear to see that black and white was the colour of preference for help's uniforms around the world. As far as they were concerned, they were just having some fun with what was probably obvious for them and that’s how they perceived things to remain as well probably. Point in question though is that that’s pretty much how a very unique creature got stuck with yet another ridiculous name by today’s standards. Like I say, it’s just a name for our reference and not like they even care.

The Secretary bird is odd in appearance because they are oddly shaped. Those legs are too long for that body and that makes finding the right angles to take their pictures difficult when you’re in a vehicle. Their bodies are just not proportional. There’s a reason that they have those long, bare legs though. These guys are famous for being enemies of snakes and they can deploy a front kick that would probably inspire a whole style of Kung Fu if these guys inhabited China. Snakes strike faster than the human eyes can follow and these birds administer kicks to snakes that take them down mid strike. Yeah ! That fast. A simple search on You Tube will show you how they do it and how it’s a skill that they successfully use against predators like Eagles and big cats as well. Their Flying Talon Attack style has taken out Cheetahs even and these guys can look pretty formidable when needed with those long wings stretched out. Their kicks can inflict up to five times their body weight and that makes this usually mild mannered savannah stroller quite the “chupa rustam” in my book. You just can’t tell how much of a bad idea it would be to piss off one of these guys when you see them. I seriously don’t advise getting close to em at all. They can bridge a distance fast when they get in the fighting stance. Big birds scare me as I’ve said so many times before on here and you see why right? It’s not just the beaks man, they can take you out with an actual flying kick.

At over 4.5 feet, these guys are pretty tall. We met my guy strutting about with his attention on the savannah floor and most probably on the lookout for snakes. These birds can have a wingspan of upto 2 metres and can weigh over 4 kgs. Monogamous couples of the species occupy a territory of around 50 square kms and that pretty much explains why we saw just one nest around the roads that we regularly traveled on in our time in the Mara. They prefer the thorny Acacia tree for their nests which are built by both the male and female. These birds can breed throughout the year with a preference for the late dry season. After their eggs hatch, both parents feed the chicks by regurgitating food on the floor of the nest which they then pick up and pass along to the young ones.

Unlike other birds of prey, these guys hunt on foot. They stalk the savannah floor for small prey like beetles, grasshoppers, spiders, crabs or even go after larger targets like warblers, doves, hornbills and rodents. The importance of snakes in their diet has pretty much been over exaggerated in the past probably by our sheer surprise on seeing these guys challenge them. Sure they take em on when needed but they are aware of the venom that many snakes in sub Saharan Africa carry and the dangers that brings. These guys are also known to take flight with snakes when in conflict with them and drop them off to end the proceedings in a hurry when chance permits. It’s a technique that many other snake hunting birds like Eagles deploy as well and is seen often in the forests of India.

The success and specialty of the Secretary Bird is in the visual targeting of its kick. Tests conducted have shown that males of the species can inflict five times their body weight of damage with a contact period of only 10 milliseconds. That, along with the fast pace of the kick just sets the species apart completely. These guys can accurately predict where the foe’s head will be at the time of the landing of the strike and that’s what makes it all come together successfully at such a blinding speed. In fact, many have suggested that this hunting style probably was used by the famed terror birds of past lore as well.

David’s narration of the story about the Secretary bird that morning went from comical to lethal and it did so in a very short time pretty much like the speed of the class defining kicks that this bird can administer to take care of its business. He was pretty much done with it by the time I finished with the set of pictures that I could score of this guy here. We didn’t see any others of his kind up close on that trip and the pair that we saw up in their nest a few days later were against the light so all I have from that sighting are silhouettes. He was a good find, this guy. He taught me that this happens as well in the natural world. The Secretary bird tops my personal list of unique ways of predation. He’s got the talons and good flight and yet chooses to stomp his food out of the bushes to feed on it at will. The species separated from other birds of prey a long time ago for this preference and has in turn developed those long, bare legs and reflex action to handle its business. The presence of such different creatures on this planet just shows how diversity is part of natural life on this planet and perhaps we’d do a lot better if we could just grasp that it might not really be a good world if all of us followed the same path through life. Pretty simple and yet so hard to comprehend and grasp though it seems, especially for us Humans.