19 November 2013

In Africa there’s a bird of prey with legs so long he looks like a crane.

Though the secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius) can fly he prefers to walk as he browses for food in the underbrush.  His legs are so long he has to crouch to get his beak to the ground.

A scorpion is a snack, a mongoose is a meal.  Secretary birds even eat poisonous snakes, adders and cobras, which they stun and kill by stomping with their feet.

Perhaps that’s why these birds are so tall.  Their bodies are out of reach of their dangerous prey.

I love to watch them walk. Graceful crane-like predators wearing short black pants.