Dave Taylor's African Safari: Trophic Level III: Omnivores and Small Carnivores - Birds

Trophic Level III: Omnivores and Small Carnivores
Birds
Page 8

A variety of birds feed on the plant-eating insects, birds and mammals found in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. Below is a selection of some of these birds. They were chosen to represent their various families. This list by no means includes all of the birds found in the ecosystem. A complete list would number close to 500 species.

Secretary Bird
Sagittarius serpentarius

Length: 1.4 m (4 feet 8 inches)

Wing Spread: 2.1 m ( 7 feet)

Status: Common. Secretary birds are able to live on large tracts of land used for agriculture but the species does not do well when land is subdivided into smaller homesteads.

Habitat: Secretary birds are found from sea level up to 3 000 meters (9,800 feet). It likes dry, open savannas, semi-deserts, and short and tall grasslands. Grass over one meter high is avoided (3 feet).

Food: Secretary birds are known for their ability to prey on even the most poisonous of snakes. Birds will walk up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) a day hunting food, which also includes grasshoppers, lizards, nestling birds and small mammals.

When a bird finds a snake, it leaps up in the air and repeatedly strikes the snake with its closed talons and tosses it until it dies.

Whatever its prey, the victim is swallowed whole. Secretary birds do not have clawed feet capable of grabbing and carrying prey back to the nest.

Social System/ Behavior: Secretary birds live in pairs. Both defend their territories against other rival secretary birds. Secretary birds build their nests in an isolated, short, thorny tree. The nest will be placed on top of trees anywhere from 3 meters (10 feet) to 10 meters (32 feet) high.

The nest is made up of sticks placed in such a way as to form a loose platform. Grass is used to tie the sticks together. The nest may be 1 to 1.5 meters (3 to 5 feet) wide. It will be used for several seasons and is continually added on to with each nesting.

The female lays one to three eggs. Although the male is around during incubation, it is the female that incubates the eggs most of the time. The eggs hatch in 45 days and the hatchlings remain in the nest almost three months. During this time, both parents bring them food.

Predators: Few species prey on the secretary bird. Large cats and spotted hyenas may occasionally catch one, as might a large eagle.

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