Ninja Eagle on Stilts - The Secretary Bird
January 26, 2016 10:15 AM   Subscribe

Secretary birds can be found striding through the grasslands of sub-Saharan Africa. They cut a striking and unmistakeable profile, with light grey bodies, black wing tips and shorts, a red mask, and a crest of black quills. The latter, according to one dubious-sounding hypothesis, look like the quill pens that secretaries once tucked behind their ears—hence the bird's name. A more plausible alternative is that “secretary” is a bastardization of the Arabic “saqr-et-tair” for “hunter bird.”

The bird’s hunting technique is simple: Find prey, flush it out, and stamp the living crap out of it. It does so with improbably long legs, which look like a crane's legs glommed onto an eagle’s body. With unerring accuracy, it brings these down onto rodents, lizards, small birds, and snakes—typically on the head.
posted by narancia (12 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
How can you not love that face?
posted by endotoxin at 10:38 AM on January 26, 2016 [2 favorites]


I look like that photo of the bird stomping on the fake snake in the article when I see real snakes. There is also screaming and then running away very quickly.
posted by narancia at 10:41 AM on January 26, 2016


Hammond, after some consideration, I've decided not to endorse your park.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:47 AM on January 26, 2016 [1 favorite]


How can you not love that face?

That's a face that says, "None of you are safe."
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:47 AM on January 26, 2016 [1 favorite]


"A feeding pigeon will close its eyes just before pecking a morsel. Woodpeckers close their eyes just before the moment of impact. Peregrine falcons, the fastest bird on the planet, have their eyes shut just before their talons impale their prey. “They use vision to estimate where the food is and then close their eyes at the last minute,” says Portugal. But a secretary bird keeps its eyes constantly open, and locked onto its prey. "

This is just fascinating. Thanks for sharing!
posted by of strange foe at 11:06 AM on January 26, 2016 [2 favorites]


They had a bunch of these at the Atlanta Zoo last time I visited. They are very cool... from a distance.
posted by lagomorphius at 11:24 AM on January 26, 2016


Not just eyes open, screaming I WILL FUCK YOU UP throughout, too.
posted by scruss at 11:45 AM on January 26, 2016 [2 favorites]


I once saw a secretary bird stomping a snake in Kruger National Park! It was one of the highlights of the trip. That and the pearl spotted owl, really. Everyone else was there for the big five, but my group didn't fall for the flash and dazzle of those big animals.
posted by stripesandplaid at 6:53 PM on January 26, 2016


Lots of great sentences in this article. Wasn't sure which one to go with:

Metafilter: A long-legged bird of prey with an appetite for snakes and a phenomenal, skull-crushing kick.

Metafilter: Their desire to kick anything that moves and looks a bit like a snake is so innate.

Metafilter: Their default option if they don’t want to mate with it, or raise it, is to kick it.

I had never heard of these birds before but I'm in love. It kind of makes me feel like a refugee alien species came to earth and changed their form to fit in better among the locals, and got it mostly right but not exactly.
posted by bleep at 10:04 PM on January 26, 2016 [1 favorite]


I kind of want to find one and put a cucumber behind it while it's eating.
posted by bleep at 10:07 PM on January 26, 2016 [3 favorites]


MetaFilter: What poor victims might these giant predators stamped on ?
posted by y2karl at 6:36 AM on January 27, 2016


I kind of want to find one and put a cucumber behind it while it's eating.

If you want to make a salad, sure.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:59 AM on January 27, 2016 [1 favorite]


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