Let us meet a bird with very long legs. This is the secretarybird. It stands about 0.9 to 1.5 meters tall, and it has very long legs for a bird of prey. It has a crest of long black feathers at the back of its head, and its feathers are mostly gray, with black flight feathers on its wings. Black feathers on its upper legs look like short pants.

Now let us see where it lives. These birds live in Africa, south of the Sahara Desert, and they like open places with short grass, such as savanna. This bird looks for grassland where the grass is short enough that its view is not blocked. They avoid thick forest and dense woodland. It can fly, but it prefers to walk.

Now let us see how it hunts. Secretarybirds weigh between 2.3 and 4.27 kilograms, and it has short, blunt toes that suit walking. It walks about 20 to 30 kilometres in a day. When it is startled, it runs before it takes off, and it hunts on the ground. It stamps on small prey with its feet, and it swallows small prey whole.

What does it eat? You may have heard that a secretarybird eats nothing but snakes. In fact, these birds do not always eat snakes, and most of what they eat is arthropods, such as grasshoppers, beetles, wasps, spiders and scorpions. They also eat small mammals, birds and lizards, and sometimes snakes. They hunt snakes, even venomous ones.

Last, let us look at the nest and how a new family starts. These birds build their nests in trees, and the male and the female build the nest together. A nest can be as wide as about 2.4 meters across. A secretarybird lays one to three eggs, and an egg hatches after about 42 to 46 days. Secretarybird parents feed their chicks.

Words to know

• prey: hunted animals
• arthropods: bugs, spiders
• savanna: open grassland
• venomous: has venom
• hatches: comes out

The short version

A secretarybird is a bird of prey with very long legs. It lives in Africa, south of the Sahara Desert. It likes open places with short grass. It can fly, but it prefers to walk, and it hunts on the ground. It eats small mammals, birds and lizards, and sometimes snakes.

Quick facts

• A secretarybird stands about 0.9 to 1.5 meters tall.
• A secretarybird walks about 20 to 30 kilometres in a day.
• A secretarybird stamps on small prey with its feet.
• Most of what a secretarybird eats is arthropods such as grasshoppers, beetles, wasps, spiders and scorpions.
• A secretarybird egg hatches after about 42 to 46 days.