Secretary Bird (Sagittarius serpentarius) Fact Sheet: Physical Characteristics

General

• Looks like and behaves like a long-legged eagle
• Wide wings with greatly elongated central tail feathers

Head

• Long neck
• Thick, curved, pale gray beak
• Bare orange face
• Eye color varies from yellow to dark brown
• Chick - brown
• Juvenile - gray
• Adult - hazel

Legs and feet

• Long pink legs, heavily scaled
• Short, blunt, partially webbed toes with thick claws (adapted for walking rather than grasping or carrying prey)

Plumage

• Black erectile crest feathers are most distinctive feature
• Gray plumage on upper body
• Grey above, white below with black flight feathers
• Black feathers covering abdomen and thighs down to knee joint
• Juveniles similar to adults, with grey barring on the white underwing and undertail coverts
• Paler face, brown edges to the grey dorsal feathers

• Sexes almost identical, with female slightly larger and male with longer crest and tail feathers.
• Males usually identifiable by their:
• More blue-grey upperparts
• More developed crest with some grey feathers
• Proportionately longer central tail feathers
• More rounded head
• Less extensive bare facial skin behind the eye

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved.

Kemp (1994, 1995)
Tarboton (1990)