Secretarybird

Sagittarius serpentarius (J. F. Miller, 1779)

The secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius) is a bird of prey in the family Sagittariidae and the order Accipitriformes. It is a medium-sized bird with an adult body mass of 4.017 kg and a wingspan of 2.03 m, ranging from 1.91 to 2.15 m in our sources.

Photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the secretarybird

This terrestrial carnivore lives in grassland and is partially migratory. The IUCN Red List assesses the secretarybird as Endangered, a threatened category.

Weight: 3.41 kg – 4.05 kgsrc for Weight
Length: Not recorded
Height: up to 1.3 msrc for Height
Wingspan: 1.91 m – 2.15 msrc for Wingspan
Lifespan: 18.6 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet: Carnivoresrc for Diet
Main food: Not recorded
Habitat: grasslandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation: 43.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch: 2src for Young per litter or clutch
Litters or clutches a year: 1.25src for Litters or clutches a year
Reproduction: Eggssrc for Reproduction
Active: By day (diurnal)src for Active
Lifestyle: Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration: Partialsrc for Migration
Conservation status: Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record: Not recorded

How big is the secretarybird?

At 2.15 m, the recorded maximum wingspan of the secretarybird is about 1.3 times the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the secretarybird

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius) — Weldon Kennedy from London, UK · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the secretarybird live?

Not recorded

What is the secretarybird?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The secretarybird or secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius) is a large bird of prey that is endemic to Africa. It is mostly terrestrial, spending most of its time on the ground, and is usually found in the open grasslands and savanna of the sub-Saharan region. John Frederick Miller described the species in 1779. A member of the order Accipitriformes, which also includes many other diurnal birds of prey such as eagles, hawks, kites, vultures, and harriers, it is placed in its own family, the Sagittariidae.
The secretarybird is easily recognizable as a very large bird with an eagle-like body on crane-like legs that give the bird a height of as much as 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in). The sexes are similar in appearance. Adults have a featherless, red-orange face and predominantly grey plumage, with a flattened dark crest and black flight feathers and thighs.
Breeding can take place at any time of year, but tends to be late in the dry season. The nest is built at the top of a thorny tree, and a clutch of one to three eggs is laid. In years with plentiful food, all three young can survive to fledging. The secretarybird hunts and catches prey on the ground, often stomping on victims to kill them. Insects and small vertebrates make up its diet.
Although the secretarybird resides over a large range, the results of localized surveys suggest that the total population is experiencing a rapid decline, probably as a result of habitat destruction. The species is therefore classed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The secretarybird appears on the coats of arms of South Africa and Sudan.

From the Wikipedia article “Secretarybird” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Secretarybird&oldid=1384441514), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the secretarybird endangered?

The secretarybird is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

LCLeast Concern
NTNear Threatened
VUVulnerable
ENEndangered
CRCritically Endangered
EWExtinct in the Wild
EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Endangered species.

How is the secretarybird classified?

kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
classAves
orderAccipitriformes
familySagittariidae
genusSagittarius
SpeciesSagittarius serpentarius (J. F. Miller, 1779)

Synonyms Falco serpentarius, Gypogeranus africanus, Gypogeranus reptilivorus, Otis secretarius, Sagittarius serpentarius gambiensis, Sagittarius serpentarius orientalis, Secretarius reptilivorus

Other names and names in other languages (56)

SecretaryEnglish
Secretary birdEnglish
Secretary-birdEnglish
SekretarisvoëlAfrikaans
كاتبArabic
صقر الجديانArabic
طائر الكاتبArabic
serpentariuAsturian
Птушка-сакратарBelarusian
Птица секретарBulgarian
secretariCatalan
hadilov písařCzech
aderyn y cwilsWelsh
SekretærfuglDanish
SekretärGerman
serpentarioEsperanto
SekretaribirdoEsperanto
SecretarioSpanish
kurgkotkas (sekretärlind)Estonian
sihteeriFinnish
SerpentaireFrench
Messager sagittaireFrench
Messager secrétaireFrench
SekreteerNorthern Frisian
Rúnai fadchosachIrish
לבלרHebrew
sekretarCroatian
kígyászkeselyűHungarian
SegretarioItalian
ヘビクイワシJapanese
ヘビクイワシ（蛇食鷲）Japanese
비서새Korean
뱀잡이수리Korean
thammekth
Mukwasikwasikth
mukwasumukwasukth
Улубхъанд-нуькILezghian
sekretoriusLithuanian
SecretarisvogelDutch
sekretarzPolish
secretárioPortuguese
SerpentárioPortuguese
Птица-секретарьRussian
hadožrút nohatýSlovak
Ptica sekretarSerbian
sekreterarfågelSwedish
นกเลขานุการThai
SekreterkuşuTurkish
TlhangweTswana
ramolangwanaTswana
секретарUkrainian
Птах-секретарUkrainian
סעקרעטערYiddish
בושל־פֿאַלקYiddish
蛇鷲Chinese
鹭鹰Chinese

Catalogue of Life Wikipedia iNaturalist Wikidata IUCN Red List

Relatives of the secretarybird

Other species in the same order Accipitriformes.

Golden eagle

Aquila chrysaetos

Accipitridae

Eurasian sparrowhawk

Accipiter nisus

Accipitridae

Osprey

Pandion haliaetus

Pandionidae

Eurasian goshawk

Astur gentilis

Accipitridae

Black kite

Milvus migrans

Accipitridae

Common buzzard

Buteo buteo

Accipitridae

CompareSecretarybird vs Golden eagle Secretarybird vs Eurasian sparrowhawk Secretarybird vs Osprey Secretarybird vs Eurasian goshawk

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What kind of animal is the secretarybird?

The secretarybird is a bird of prey in the family Sagittariidae, order Accipitriformes.

How big is the secretarybird?

The secretarybird has a wingspan of 2.03 m and an adult body mass of 4.017 kg. Its wingspan ranges from 1.91 to 2.15 m in our sources.

What does the secretarybird eat?

The secretarybird is a carnivore.

Is the secretarybird endangered?

Yes. The IUCN Red List classifies the secretarybird as Endangered (EN), a threatened category.

Where does the secretarybird live?

The secretarybird lives in grassland and is terrestrial. Its geographic range covers 14,020,000 km².

How long does the secretarybird live?

The secretarybird has a lifespan of 18.6 years.

How many eggs does the secretarybird lay?

The secretarybird lays 2 eggs per clutch, with 1.25 clutches per year and an incubation period of 43.5 days.

Who named the secretarybird?

The secretarybird, Sagittarius serpentarius, was named by (J. F. Miller, 1779).

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

Embed a card for this animal on your own site

Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.

<iframe src="https://creaturedata.com/embed/animals/secretarybird" title="Secretarybird on CreatureData" width="360" height="520" style="border:0;max-width:100%" loading="lazy"></iframe>

Preview the card

APA

CreatureData. (2026). Secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/secretarybird

MLA

“Secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/secretarybird.

BibTeX

@misc{secretarybird_2026,
  title = {Secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/secretarybird},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}