Secretarybird: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the secretarybird lives – recorded in 10 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Sagittarius serpentarius
Group	Birds of prey
Status	Endangered (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	10 countries
Continents	Africa
Mass	130 g (birth weight); 4.05 kg (adult weight)
Class	Bird
Order	Accipitriformes
Family	Sagittariidae

Where does the secretarybird live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the secretarybird in 10 countries and territories across Africa. Wikidata gives its range as: Africa, Burkina Faso.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

How big is a secretarybird?

Wikidata records the following for the secretarybird: mass 130 g (birth weight); 4.05 kg (adult weight).

Is the secretarybird endangered?

The secretarybird’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Endangered” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the secretarybird?

The secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius) is a bird in the order Accipitriformes and the family Sagittariidae, genus Sagittarius. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the secretarybird

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 instantly 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.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Secretarybird (revision 1379213309), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q168748 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).