Not a single continent of the world, probably, there is no such variety and number of birds as in Africa: 90 families of 22 unit.Among them are all known bird with a funny name - Secretary.
Its strange name of secretary bird gained through the French colonists.The fact is that in Arabic the name sounds like "Sacro e-Tair," that is a bird hunter, which in French is written as secrétaire.Try to read the word out loud, and you will hear a "secretary."There is, however, another assumption about the origin of the name, and it is related to the color of the bird, which is very reminiscent of the clothes men secretaries 1800s.
secretary bird enjoys a certain popularity in Africa, especially in Sudan, where she became a symbol of the state and, therefore, shows the coat of arms of the country.And she has a few names: toed snake-eagle, herald gipogeron.
Appearance secretary bird
It can not be confused with anyone else.Mother Nature has managed to combine in an eagle and crane secretary.From the first he got a powerful hooked beak, and the second long legs.At the height toed snake-eagle reaches 1.3-1.4 m, with an average body weight of 3.3 kg.Wingspan had more than 2 meters.On the head there are long feathers hanging down, which makes the birds similar to the clerks of the XIX century.The tail highlights two central elongated pen.Around the eyes and beak near the tail is completely absent.Bare skin in these places has a yellow-orange color (in young animals) or close to the red shade (characteristic for adult birds).To distinguish the male from the female only in the number of feathers on the head and in the tail.So, for the secretary bird male characteristic richer plumage.
Habitat
These birds prefer to live in Africa south of the Sahara.Their habitat stretches from Senegal to Somalia and a little to the south up to the Cape of Good Hope.They get along well at various altitudes, from the coastal plains to the highlands.Nevertheless, preference is given to grasslands and savannas, not forests and bushes where it is difficult to run.
Features Power
Diet secretary bird consists of insects, lizards, small birds, eggs, birds, small tortoises, snakes and rodents.It hunts mainly on land space measuring with long strides and carefully looking out for future production in the grass.Particularly appreciated by the locals secretary bird for his ability to find and catch snakes.Having found a snake, she grabs her long body with his strong paws with sharp claws and simultaneously gets his beak into the neck or head.Sting even for black African cobra toed snake-eagle is not terrible, because the legs of the birds protected heavy coating of solid flakes.
Gerold - bird bath.Choose a female, the male seduces her during joint operations and singing serenades composed of croaking sounds.Once the couple was formed, the birds begin to build a huge nest with a diameter of 2.4 meters.This house of sticks, the fur of dead animals, manure, leaves and grass will last more than one season - there are several generations of young hatch.
Here's a she - secretary bird, which is so fond of domesticating farmers and local residents.But because of deforestation and plowing land is a family of birds has come under threat of extinction.Therefore, since 1968, the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature took them under his protection.
For those who want more want to see what it looks like secretary bird - the photo below.
