Secretarybird
Sagittarius serpentarius
Secretarybird (Sagittariidae) · Accipitriformes (Accipitriformes)
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Family
Sagittariidae is a family of raptor with one living species—the secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius) native to Africa—and a few fossil taxa. This single extant species has affected the fossil record of the group by ‘pulling’ the temporal range of the family to the present, an artifact called the Pull of the recent. German naturalists Otto Finsch and Gustav Hartlaub established the taxon name as a subfamily—Sagittariinae—in 1870.
Order
The Accipitriformes (; from Latin accipiter 'hawk' and formes 'having the form of') are an order of birds that includes most of the diurnal birds of prey, including hawks, eagles, vultures, kites, ospreys and secretary birds, but not falcons or seriemas. The generally nocturnal owls, also considered birds of prey, are a separate order from the accipitriformes. For a long time, the majority view was to include them with the falcons in the Falconiformes, but many authorities now recognize a …