Wildlife. Updated November 2026. 4 min read.
Most eagles hunt from the sky. The secretary bird hunts on foot. Watch one on the Mara plains for twenty minutes and you will see it pace through the grass in long, deliberate strides, head down, crest lifting in the wind, until it suddenly stamps hard, several times, at something you cannot see. Then it swallows a grasshopper, a mouse or, if you are lucky, a snake.
The secretary bird is a bird of prey on long legs, the only member of its family. In Kenya, look for it in open grassland: the Maasai Mara, Nairobi National Park, Amboseli, the Athi plains, Tsavo and the Laikipia ranches. You usually see one or a pair walking a few hundred meters from the track, and your guide will often spot it first, because its head sits above most of the grass. You can see it in any month. It is also Endangered, so every sighting matters.
How to recognize it
- Height: about 1.2 to 1.3 meters standing, with legs longer than any other raptor's.
- Pale gray body, black thighs that look like short trousers, and black flight feathers.
- A crest of long, black-tipped feathers at the back of the head, raised when the bird is excited.
- Bare orange to red skin around the eye, and a hooked eagle's bill.
- Two long central tail feathers that stream out behind it in flight.
- Pairs keep a large territory and walk it together, often covering many kilometers in a day.
How it hunts
Secretary birds eat insects, rodents, lizards, small birds, eggs and snakes, including venomous ones. They walk to flush prey, then kill it with fast, hard stamps of the feet. A study of a trained captive bird in Britain measured kicks of about five times the bird's own body weight, landing in around 15 thousandths of a second, faster than the blink of an eye and too fast for a snake to react. Thick scales on the lower legs help, but the real defense is accuracy. Grass fires attract them, because fleeing insects and rodents are easy prey, so look along the edges of burned patches in the Mara.
Where to see secretary birds in Kenya
| Park | Why go | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Maasai Mara | Wide open plains, especially once the migration herds have grazed the grass short | Scan the plains on the drives between river crossings |
| Nairobi National Park | Open plains in the south of the park, a short drive from the city | A good first or last morning around an international flight |
| Amboseli | Dry, open grassland around the lake bed | Go early, before the heat haze |
| Laikipia conservancies | Open ranchland with long sightlines and few vehicles | Walking safaris here can bring you closer, with a guide |
| Tsavo East and West | Huge, quiet bush and grassland | Easier in the dry seasons when the grass is low |
Nests and family life
Pairs build a big, flat platform of sticks on top of a thorny tree, often a flat-topped acacia or a balanites, and may use it for years. They usually lay two or three eggs, and the chicks spend roughly two to three months on the nest before they fly. Adults carry food back in the crop and bring it up for the chicks. If your guide knows an active nest, watch from a distance and keep the visit short; parents kept off a nest in the midday sun can lose chicks to the heat.
Three things most people do not know
First, nobody is sure where the name comes from. The popular story says the crest looks like the quill pens that clerks once tucked behind their ears, and the gray and black plumage like a clerk's tailcoat and breeches. Another theory traces it to an Arabic phrase meaning hunter bird. Second, despite all the walking, secretary birds fly well. They soar high on thermals and roost in trees at night. Third, the bird is a national emblem: it appears on the coats of arms of both Sudan and South Africa.
Conservation status
The IUCN moved the secretary bird from Vulnerable to Endangered in 2016 after evidence of fast declines across Africa, and it was still listed as Endangered at the time of writing. The causes are grassland lost to farms and fences, overgrazing, disturbance, collisions with power lines and fences, and poisoning. In Kenya, the open plains of the Mara, Nairobi National Park and the Laikipia ranches are strongholds, which is one more reason the open wildlife corridors on Nairobi's southern edge matter. Check the Red List for the current status.
How to photograph a secretary bird
This is a bird to shoot at eye level. Ask your driver to place the vehicle ahead of the bird's line of walk, switch off and let it come past, rather than chasing it. Use a 400 mm lens or longer, continuous focus and a fast shutter, at least 1/2000 second, for the stamping. Morning and evening light catch the orange face and the crest. If it takes off, keep shooting: the long tail and trailing legs make a striking flight picture.
Trips where you will see one
A Mara safari of three or more nights gives you a good chance, and a morning in Nairobi National Park at the start or end of your trip adds another. Combine the plains with Lake Naivasha and Lake Baringo and you cover the big raptors and the water birds in one week. Our birdwatching guide has the full list of sites and seasons, and our pages on ostriches and vultures cover the other big birds of the same grassland.
