secretary bird

See also: secretarybird

English

geographic distribution of the secretary bird

secretary bird

Alternative forms

• secretarybird

Etymology

Probably so named because its crest of long feathers resembles quill pens stuck behind the ears of an office clerk. Alternatively, possibly from Arabic صَقْر اَلطَّائِر (ṣaqr aṭ-ṭāʔir, “hunter bird”), from صَقْر (ṣaqr, “falcon, hawk”) طَائِر (ṭāʔir, “bird”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛkɹəˌtɛɹɪ bɜːd/

Noun

secretary bird (plural secretary birds)

1. A large terrestrial bird of prey, Sagittarius serpentarius, native to Africa with very long legs that preys on reptiles, especially snakes.

Translations

member of bird family

• Afrikaans: sekretarisvoël (af)
• Amharic: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: كَاتِب m (kātib)
• Bari: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: пти́ца-секрета́р f (ptíca-sekretár)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蛇鷲／蛇鹫 (shéjiù), 鷺鷹／鹭鹰 (lùyīng), 秘書鳥／秘书鸟 (mìshūniǎo)

• Dutch: secretarisvogel (nl) m, secretaris (nl) m
• Finnish: sihteerilintu (fi), sihteeri (fi)
• French: messager sagittaire (fr) m, messager secrétaire m, messager serpentaire m
• German: Sekretär (de) m
• Hungarian: kígyászkeselyű (hu)
• Irish: rúnaí m
• Japanese: ヘビクイワシ (ja) (hebikuiwashi)
• Korean: 뱀잡이수리 (baemjabisuri)
• Manx: screeudeyr m
• Murle: please add this translation if you can
• Navajo: giní jáádnézí
• Nuer: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: secretário (pt) m, serpentário m
• Romanian: pasăre secretar f
• Russian: пти́ца-секрета́рь (ru) f (ptíca-sekretárʹ)
• Southwestern Dinka: adhil
• Spanish: serpentario m
• Swahili: ndege katibu
• Swedish: sekreterarfågel c
• West Flemish: please add this translation if you can
• Zande: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• secretary bird on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Sagittarius serpentarius on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Sagittarius serpentarius on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons