The Secretarybird is a wonderfully peculiar character that roams across sub-Saharan Africa. It is the only member of its family, Sagittariidae, which is found nowhere else on earth. These long-legged raptors are world renowned for their ability to expertly dispatch their prey with precise and powerful kicks, prey that notably includes venomous snakes. Such is the admiration for this remarkable species that it is proudly displayed on the South African coat of arms, as a symbol of protection.

There is some tragic irony in the fact that we are currently failing to protect this species from the drastic population declines recorded across Africa (a decline of around 75% in South Africa and worse further afield). These population declines have resulted in the Secretarybird being uplisted to Endangered by the IUCN in 2020, signifying that there is now a very real risk that the species will become extinct if nothing is done. BirdLife South Africa is therefore working hard to understand the ecology of this species and employ effective conservation measures to safeguard this species.

Biology

Biology

The Secretarybird is a charismatic and familiar species, and uses a variety of open habitats across its range in sub-Saharan Africa. It occurs in all nine provinces in South Africa. The Secretarybird is assigned to its own family, Sagittariidae – an endemic African family found nowhere else on earth.

The Secretarybird is easy to identify; it has long legs, grey-black plumage, crest feathers and orange facial skin. In flight its long elongated central tail feathers are characteristic.

The Secretarybird is an effective hunter, striding across the landscape in search of prey which when sighted are usually stunned or killed with a series of rapid and accurate kicks with a force up to five times the mass of the bird itself. Their diet consists mainly of arthropods including locusts, beetles and spiders (87%), rodents (3.9%), lizards (3.3%), birds (1.8%) and despite being well known for their ability to kill snakes, these only make up a small proportion of their regular diet (1%).

Breeding can take place at anytime of the year but appears to be linked to rainfall. Nests are constructed as large, flat stick structures in the tops of flat thorn trees or dense bushes approximately 3-6 m above the ground. Broods can have up to three chicks and in a good year both parents will be able to fledge all three individuals.

Threats

Threats

The Secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius) was uplisted from Near-threatened to Vulnerable in 2011 and to Endangered in 2020

In South Africa there is considerable concern about the conservation status of the species. A preliminary analysis of SABAP1 and SABAP2 data shows a considerable reduction in the areas this species previously occupied.

In Botswana a recent road count survey showed that in just a few decades the counts for the sepcies had reduced by 78% (Garbett et al. 2018).

Secretarybirds face a numerous range of threats the biggest of which is undoubtedly habitat loss through the degradation of natural areas and conversion of areas into agricultural properties or human settlements. A number of fatalities have been recorded from collisions with power infrastructure and fence lines as well.

Birds also face risks from collisions with motor vehicles, drowning in farm dams and secondary poisoning by consuming poisoned prey.

Conservation & Research

Conservation & Research

BirdLife South Africa initiated research on the Secretarybird in 2011 under the guidance of Ernst Retief and Dr Hanneline Smit-Robinson in order to understand aspects of the species biology which could assist with its conservation. This research included tracking the movements of Secretarybirds using GPS-GSM solar-powered tracking devices. With these devices, the movement of individual birds was determined in great detail. These devices provide accurate locations to within 10 m every 15 minutes from sunrise to sunset. Not only is it possible to determine long distance movement patterns, but also habitat use and territory size.

Dr Melissa Whitecross took over the project at the start of 2018 and analysed the large tracking dataset into a publication titled ‘Dispersal dynamics of juvenile Secretarybirds Sagittarius serpentarius in southern Africa’ which was published in Ostrich in 2019. This paper illustrates the vast distances which juvenile Secretarybirds are able to travel and provided the first evidence of the age of first breeding through a bird called Taemane.

In 2023, Cassie Carstens joined the project as Secretarybird Conservation Officer and set out to find and monitor nests across South Africa. Engagement with landowners and other conservation stakeholders is a key component of this process, and the project is working on a series of advisory documents to conserve this iconic species.

BirdLife South Africa has set up a citizen science project with two objectives. The first is to monitor sightings of Secretarybirds around South Africa as part of the Bird of the Year 2019 initiative using the app BirdLasser. The second is a breeding database where citizen scientists can submit sightings of breeding Secretarybirds. We encourage everyone to contribute to these valuable datasets.

More information on the project

Watch an overview of BirdLife South Africa's Secretarybird Project

Secretarybird - Bird of the Year 2019

Tracked Birds - Find out more about the tracked birds below:

Egoli & Mia-May

About Egoli & Mia-May
Egoli and Mia-May are siblings from the same nest just south of Heidelberg. Egoli was named after the historical gold mining in this area. Mia-Mai was named after the young girl whose enthusiasm and efforts led to the discovery of the nest site (shown in picture).

Sponsor
Egoli’s tracking device was kindly sponsored by the BirdLife Northern Gauteng Bird Club, who also gave him his name.

Kwezi

Kwezi means “Morning Star” and was named in honour of a young girl who sadly lost her life in an accident on the day that we tagged this Secretarybird. The girl was a friend of the Cumming Family who own the farm on which Kwezi’s nest is built.

Dr Melissa Whitecross, with assistance from Craig Nattrass, Caroline Howes, Sakhile Mtalane and Carina Coetzer, lifted the young Secretarybird from its nest and fitted the solar-charged Iridium Biolog tracker to its back using a harness made of Spectra. The tracking device will provide us with half-hour locations as Kwezi grows up and we hope to follow her for a long time to come.

See below for Kwezi’s latest movements.

Ekapa

Nest Site (Photo: Jan Griesel)

About Ekapa

Ekapa was ringed and fitted with the GPS tracker on 22 October 2020 while still on the nest tree located inside the Benforntein Nature Reserve just outside of Kimberley. The bird was named by the sponsor of the tracking device, the Ekapa Group, which manages one of the nearby mines. Ekapa has contributed tremendous amounts of data to the study, carrying the tracker for more than 1,400 days and collecting more than 152,000 data points while travelling almost 20,000 kilometres! Ekapa is only the second bird tracked into adulthood and bred for the first time in 2023. Unfortunately, this attempt, which took place in the southern parts of the Free State Province, was unsuccessful, with the eggs being predated by an avian scavenger.

Ekapa

Sponsor
The tracking device was sponsored by Ekapa Minerals. For more info about Ekapa Minerals click here. Ekapa Minerals gave Ekapa his name!

Tracking Device

Map of Ekapa’s Movements
Ekapa travelled long distances during the first few years of its life but has settled down and now moves in small, concentrated patterns around the chosen nest site. After fledging, the bird moved southwest into the Northern Cape for a few months before deciding on the Free State as its selected home. Several months were spent in the grasslands between Kimberley and Bloemfontein before the bird settled near Jagersfontein. It has had two nest sites, the first being abandoned after the eggs were scavenged. The second nest is monitored closely, with the hope that another breeding attempt will take place soon.

If you would like to watch the movement patterns of Ekapa for 2024 to date click here

Heatmap collage showing movement around the nest in 2023.

The first nest (ZA_175) with 2 eggs visible

The second nest (ZA_224)

BliNG

BliNG

About BLiNG

We learnt about the nest site through Arnaud Le Roux, who is the Conservation Manager at Sondela Nature Reserve. Arnaud closely monitored the nest site before we attached the device to BLiNG. Sondela provided us with fantastic support.

For more information about Sondela click here.

Sponsor
The tracking device was sponsored by BirdLife Northern Gauteng, a bird club based in Pretoria. For more info about the club click here.

Tracking Device
The tracking device was fitted in January 2013 to an immature bird at Sondela Nature Reserve near Bela-Bela in the Limpopo Province. The event was filmed and broadcast on the SABC’s 50/50 environmental programme on 25 February 2013. BirdLife South Africa also funded a cameratrap that was placed near the nest site in order to monitor the nest. Below are some of the photos of the birds at the nest.

Map of BLiNG’s Movements
Below is a map showing the location and movement of BLiNG since it left its natal area.

After leaving its natal area, BLiNG moved almost directly to Botswana, more than 250 km away. It spent quite a few days just north of Gaborone sleeping each night at a new locality. BLiNG then moved north all the way to the Magadigadi Pans before moving south to the last position indicated on the map. Unfortunately cell reception in this area in Botswana is not so good and as the data are downloaded through the cell network, positions are only received intermittently.

Taemane

Taemane

About Taemane
Hermie Swart informed BirdLife South Africa about the location of a nest site on his farm not far from Warden in the Free State. It was a typical nest, and located on the top of a small tree and very well hidden (see photo to the below).

Sponsor
The tracking device was sponsored by De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited. They gave he bird the name Taemane which means “diamond” in Setswana and SeSotho.

Tracking Device
The tracking device was attached to Taemane in February 2013. The tracking device is smaller than the one previously used for Spyker, weighing only 38 grams. The photo below show the tracking device being fitted to Taemane.

Map of Taemane’s Movements
Below is a map showing the location and movement of Taemane.

Taemane left the natal area for the first time on 30 July 2013. This was about 3 months and 3 weeks after Taemane first left the nest. As shown on the map Taemane first moved to the neighbouring farm, then to a location east of Warden, then east of Bethlehem. On 3 August 2013 Taemane was in an area between Bethlehem and Kestell.

Taemane left Bethlehem and moved back north to Warden before moving south all the way to the KwaZulu-Natal coast. After a few days it moved north again and settled in and area to the east of Ixopo. Within this area it forages in the relatively small grassland patches between plantations.

Mia-May

After dispersing eastward from the natal nest, Mia-May (a young female bird) explored the grasslands of Mpumalanga near Greylingstad and eventually crossed the border into the Free State. Moving steadily across the eastern parts of the province, the bird spent quite some time in the Harrismith and Verkykerskop regions. This area has large tracks of open grassland which are used for cattle grazing. The itch to travel did strike again, and a big movement northwest took place that eventually placed the bird near Heilbron in the north of the province, where it spent several months. In late May 2023, Mia-May undertook a big journey southward, staying parallel with the N1 highway, ending just north of Winburg. Here, unfortunately, on 29 May 2023, the GPS tracker ceased to function.

Mia-May was tracked for 327 days, resulting in 30,683 data points. During this period, the bird covered more than 5,865.05 kilometres. Tracker units do fail now and then, with battery and solar panel issues being the main causes.

Egoli

Egoli (a male Secretarybird) is one of the longest-tracked birds in this study, providing an impressive 93,000 data points across almost 1,200 days. Egoli prefers two regions: the mixed agricultural areas along the Vaal River from Sasolburg to Heidelberg (where it spends most of its time), and a small piece of grassland between Randfontein and Soweto in the Gauteng Province. The bird visits this latter area, dotted with mine shafts and sand dumps when the preferred foraging grounds have been burned down. Although not known for long-distance travel, Egoli has undertaken a few forays, with several trips south into the Free State taking place. But an epic trans-Gauteng trip stands out! On 1 January 2024, Egoli set off north from the grassland near Soweto and travelled all the way to the N4 highway in Pretoria before turning back. A night was spent in the Cradle Nature Reserve before the return to familiar land.

Egoli has covered more than 16,800 kilometres over the past few years. These totals are calculated by measuring the distance between the points recorded and transmitted by the GPS tracker. These are, of course, underestimates. If you have seen a Secretarybird foraging in a grassland, you will recall that they rarely travel in a straight line and crisscross the landscape continuously.

Current Project Status

The Secretarybird Conservation Project is part of BirdLife South Africa’s Species Programme and is currently being coordinated by Cassie Carstens. Identification and monitoring of nests and engagement with landowners and conservation stakeholders are the main activities being conducted. Tracking data is still being gathered and will be investigated in more detail to identify habitat and landscape use as well as risks associated with powerlines. The goal of creating a species action plan is also part of the long-term activities.

If you would like to donate towards this project, please look for our donation page and use “Secretarybirds” as a description for your donation.

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Funders