Let us begin with the places where these birds live and with how they look, from the crest on the head to the black feathers on the legs, and with how tall it stands and how its toes suit walking in the open grass. A secretarybird has very long legs for a bird of prey. A secretarybird stands about 0.9 to 1.5 meters tall. A secretarybird has a crest of long black feathers at the back of its head; a secretarybird has mostly gray feathers, with black flight feathers on its wings. Secretarybirds live in Africa, south of the Sahara Desert. Secretarybirds like open places with short grass, such as savanna. A secretarybird looks for grassland where the grass is short enough that its view is not blocked; a secretarybird has short, blunt toes that suit walking.

Next, let us look at where the bird sits in the family tree of birds, at its fossil relatives and at the names that it has been given over time. Diurnal birds of prey, those that hunt by day, are the secretarybird's closest relatives. A secretarybird is the only species in its family, the Sagittariidae. Molecular studies place the secretarybird as the sister-group to the osprey plus the hawk-and-eagle family, the Accipitridae; several fossil secretarybird relatives are known; the oldest is Pelargopappus from Oligocene deposits in France. A secretarybird's scientific name means "bowman" in Latin, and it is also called "the archer of snakes." One explanation for the name secretary is that the long feathers on the bird's neck look like a quill pen tucked behind a scribe's ear.

Here is how a secretarybird hunts, from the moment it spots its prey to the moment it swallows, and what sort of prey it takes, and how the bird handles that prey once it has it. A secretarybird hunts on the ground. Once a secretarybird spots prey, it quickens its pace to take the prey by surprise. If a clump of grass is thick, a secretarybird stamps on it to flush out any prey hiding inside; a secretarybird stamps on small prey with its feet. A secretarybird swallows small prey whole. A secretarybird is an opportunistic predator, which means it eats many kinds of prey. The prey a secretarybird takes is listed as anything less than 500 grams.

Now let us look at the one study that measured a kick, at how the researchers set it up and at how the bird aims at what it hits, and at what the authors say about the force and the time of a kick. The kick study used one captive male secretarybird at the Hawk Conservancy Trust, a force plate hidden under artificial grass and a rubber snake pulled across it. In a published study, kicks from a captive secretarybird reached 195 newtons, about five times its body weight. In the same study, the contact between the bird's feet and the rubber snake lasted on average just 15 milliseconds; the study authors say a secretarybird's kick is too brief for it to correct in mid-strike; it relies on visual targeting and feed-forward motor control. Secretarybirds probably use binocular vision to target prey.

Next, let us look at what the bird eats, at the claim that it eats only snakes and at what else it swallows or coughs up. Most of what a secretarybird eats is arthropods such as grasshoppers, beetles, wasps, spiders and scorpions. A secretarybird eats small mammals, birds and lizards, and sometimes snakes. You may have heard that a secretarybird eats nothing but snakes, but secretarybirds do not always eat snakes; secretarybirds hunt snakes, even venomous ones. A secretarybird sometimes swallows grass and small rocks, probably to aid digestion. A secretarybird coughs up the parts it cannot digest as a large pellet below its roosting site.

Now let us follow the bird through its days, and see how far and how fast its long legs carry it as it walks and hunts, and how it moves when it is startled. A secretarybird can fly, but it prefers to walk. One name for the secretarybird is the marching eagle, because of the way it lifts its legs as it walks. A secretarybird walks at about 2 to 3 kilometres per hour on the ground; a secretarybird walks about 20 to 30 kilometres in a day. When it is startled, a secretarybird runs before it takes off. A secretarybird is usually sedentary, but it can become nomadic when its prey changes in number.

Let us turn to what is known about how many secretarybirds there are, about how the counts were made and about what the early reports found and where, along with the atlas data and the surveys that the counts rest on. As of November 2026, there are local surveys of secretarybirds, but there are no detailed global population surveys. One study of secretarybird numbers in southern Africa used data from the Southern African Bird Atlas Project, a citizen science project. Bird atlas data reported significant secretarybird declines when comparing the first atlas period (1987 to 1992) with the second (2007 onwards); As of November 2026, BirdLife International estimated in 2016 that there were 6,700 to 67,000 mature secretarybirds. As of November 2026, declines of secretarybirds across Africa were first noticed by BirdLife partners, other bird experts and citizen scientists.

Here are the figures from the 2024 study and from the reports that followed it, region by region and count by count. As of November 2026, a 2024 study in Nature Ecology & Evolution reported that secretarybirds saw an 80 percent decline in four regions across Africa. As of November 2026, the 2024 study counted raptors by driving road transects, which are set routes along roads. As of November 2026, the 2024 study gathered data on 42 African raptor species, and 37 species were on the decline over three generations, up to 40 years; As of November 2026, the four regions in the 80 percent decline were Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali in West Africa, Kenya in East Africa, and Botswana in Southern Africa. As of November 2026, HawkWatch International reports recent research showing secretarybird declines of as much as 89 percent in Kenya and 82 percent in Botswana. As of November 2026, road counts in Botswana indicated a 78 percent decline in secretarybird sightings.

Next, let us see how this bird is listed, what scientists and conservation groups say about the things that threaten it, and what is still not known. As of November 2026, the IUCN rated the secretarybird of least concern in 2004, and it was designated Endangered in 2020. As of November 2026, the IUCN Red List lists the secretarybird as Endangered; it was last assessed in April 2020. As of November 2026, secretarybirds are listed in Appendix II of CITES, which means trade in them is controlled; grasslands are rapidly being replaced by farmland, which is one reason scientists give for secretarybird declines. As of November 2026, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance library lists burning of grasslands, loss of prey and spreading cultivation as threats to secretarybirds. Scientists do not yet know all the reasons why secretarybirds are declining. Losing the places where they live is a threat to secretarybirds; Conservation groups keep track of where secretarybirds nest.

Last, let us see how a family begins in the wild, from how long the birds live and when they breed to the nest, the eggs and the chicks that leave it. How long wild secretarybirds live is still unknown, and further study is needed. Scientists expect a secretarybird to reach breeding age at 3 or 4 years old, though this is not precisely known. Secretarybirds build their nests in trees; the male and the female secretarybird build the nest together. A secretarybird nest can be as wide as about 2.4 meters across. A secretarybird lays one to three eggs. Both secretarybird parents take turns sitting on the eggs; a secretarybird egg hatches after about 42 to 46 days. After hatching, secretarybird chicks leave the nest, or fledge, after 64 to 106 days. Secretarybird parents feed their chicks.

Words to know

• Accipitridae: hawk family
• binocular: two-eyed
• milliseconds: tiny time units
• transects: set routes
• opportunistic: eats many kinds
• fledge: leave the nest