Madeleine

This month we are featuring the Secretary Bird, one of the most unusual of our birds of prey. Their scientific name is Sagittarius serpentarius, which is roughly translated as ‘Archer of Snakes’. They are the single species in the family Sagittariidae. The name may have been derived from the Arabic ‘Saqu Ettair’ which means ‘hunter bird’. This could have then been translated into French as ‘secretaire’ and thence to English as ‘secretary’. The other suggestion is that because they have long dark-feathered uppers legs, and have a crest of 20 feathers on their heads, they were named after the 19th century secretaries who wore breeches and kept their quill pens behind their ears.

They are only found in Africa, south of the Sahara, and are generally seen in open areas of the plains and savannah. They are rather territorial, occupying areas of 45-50 square kilometres, and are normally only to be found singly or in pairs some distance apart.

These birds have the longest legs of any bird of prey, which gives rise to their other name of Long-legged Marching Eagle, though they are not related to eagles. Their legs are heavily scaled as armour against venomous snakebites and they do not have the grasping toes of other raptors. Instead, theirs are thick and blunt with short curved talons. These are tall birds, standing about 1 metre high with brightly coloured bald faces. This coloration tends to be a feature of snake hunting birds. The shape of the head and the strong bill resemble the Caracara. The wingspan is over 2 metres and they typically weigh around 3kg plus.

The rubber snake is not safe from Madeleine's impressive kick

Another of their unusual characteristics is their mainly terrestrial behaviour. They will spend hours walking around searching out their prey, sometimes stamping the grassy hussocks to scare their victims into the open. This may involve travelling up to 20 miles a day on foot. However, they are accomplished fliers, and have been observed soaring like vultures to heights of around 4000 metres.

Their diet consists mainly of snakes, lizards, grasshoppers and insects as well as small mammals and birds. They have been seen to eat small tortoises. It is their snake hunting ability for which they are best known, though they are not immune to snake venom. Snakes are attacked with their powerful legs and the rear talon is driven very hard into the skull with deadly accuracy. The wings and tail will be spread wide in an attempt to distract the snake and to try and get it to strike only feather and thus be unable to inject the venom into the bird’s bloodstream. Other prey is also attacked in this way and may be lifted off the ground and thrown down several times until it is dead. Such is their reputation as snake killers that they are sometimes tamed and kept domestically in order to remove snakes from a property. These birds will also be seen near the scene of bush and grass fires where they can prey on mammals which are escaping the flames.

Secretary birds will normally pair for life, being almost inseparable, and will keep the same nest site year after year. They exhibit a very acrobatic mating flight. The nest is large, is built near the top of trees and will be added to each year. The clutch is two or three eggs, and young are fledged after about eight weeks.

That's the snake dealt with - how safe is Sam?

Madeleine, our very popular Secretary Bird, came to us as a juvenile fourteen years ago. She has been a starring attraction in our displays for most of her time here. She shows off her instinctive snake-hunting prowess by attacking a rubber snake that is tied to a length of string and is pulled by one of the falconers. The accuracy and power of her strike amaze the audience. The poor snake has to be replaced two or three times a season! She also demonstrates her ability to deal with a rearing cobra when the snake if lifted vertically for her to ‘kick-box’ to the ground before finishing it off. The fun comes on a windy day, when sometimes her accuracy is slightly reduced, and she misses the snake and strikes the falconer instead, much to the amusement of everyone except the hapless falconer. Showing one’s scars from a Madeleine scrape is one of the rites of passage for a new falconer! One of the staff did suffer quite a nasty wound one day and needed to go to the local hospital to be patched up. A telephone call was made to the casualty department to warn them that he was coming in with a wound caused by a Secretary Bird. At the hospital he was intrigued as to why he seemed to be the centre of attention for several of the nursing staff (it certainly wasn’t his good looks!). Apparently the news had got around that he had been attacked by his secretary, and they all wanted to come and find out what kind of man it was that would get himself injured in this way!

Inevitably, in her time here, Madeleine has made the occasional escape. On one occasion, she had a whole posse of staff chasing her across some very wet and muddy ploughed fields. As their feet got heavier and heavier with accumulated mud, it looked as though they would never catch her until Ashley, our CEO, made one last desperate lunge and pulled off a magnificent rugby tackle to finally catch her. Another time she was recaptured on the verge of the A303, the main road near here. Passing motorists were treated to the sight of Ashley walking along the side of the road with Madeleine under his arm. Those readers who remember the comedy act ‘Rod Hull and Emu’ will be able to picture the scene.

Madeleine, with her gorgeous long eyelashes that secretaries would kill for, will, hopefully, be pulling in the crowds for many years to come. Her uniqueness, and the wonderful display of her natural behaviour, will always be a memorable part of a visit to the Conservancy.