Secretary Bird

Every time I give myself a little assignment, I find myself launched on a voyage of discovery. This week’s focus on fancy crowns or head feathers has led me to the Secretary Bird, sometimes described as an eagle on stilts– found across sub-Saharan Africa, up to five feet tall (almost as big as an antelope) yet weighing under ten pounds. Their Latin name, Sagittarius serpentarius, means archer of serpents, and they stomp poisonous snakes to death with their terrifying feet (I feel another foot drawing coming on.) And their head feathers are pretty amazing, too!