page_title: Buteogallus daggetti
section_title: Behavior and ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Buteogallus daggetti / Behavior and ecology
caption_attribution_description: English: Secretary Bird (Sagittarius serpentarius), picture taken at Serengeti Nationalpark, Tanzania Deutsch: Sekretärvogel (Sagittarius serpentarius), fotografiert im Serengeti Nationalpark, Tanzania
context_page_description: Buteogallus daggetti, occasionally called "Daggett's eagle" or the "walking eagle", is an extinct species of long-legged hawk which lived in southwest North America during the Pleistocene. Initially believed to be some sort of carrion-eating eagle, it was for some time placed in the distinct genus Wetmoregyps, named for Alexander Wetmore. It probably resembled a larger version of the modern-day savanna hawk, with its long legs possibly used like the secretarybird of Africa to hunt for small reptiles from a safe distance. It died out about 13,000 years ago.
  Fossils of B. daggetti were discovered in the La Brea and Carpinteria lagerstätte in southern California, and in Nuevo León in Mexico. Its habitat included grasslands, marshlands, brushy savannas and ponds. It probably ate mostly small reptiles such as snakes. As is often the case with birds, the female seems to have been larger than the male.
context_section_description: Buteogallus daggetti habitats comprised open grasslands, marshlands, and savannas from sea level to 2,250 metres (7,380 ft).
  Because of its large size and long legs, B. daggetti is theorized to have lived rather like the modern-day secretarybird. Its diet would have been composed mostly of snakes and other small reptiles, which it would have kicked to death with its long legs. Not just good weapons, these legs would have kept the bird at a safe distance from its struggling prey. Olson's paper guessed that B. daggetti may have been attracted to grass fires as the savanna hawk is today. These fires chase out small animals, which then make easy prey for the raptors.
  Olson disputes claims that B. daggetti was primarily a scavenger, and that its extinction was somehow linked to the decline of the North American Pleistocene megafauna. He likewise found Miller's vision of the bird as a forest-dweller "spurious".
caption: B. daggetti may have lived like the modern-day secretarybird.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL", "Image XResolution": "7984407", "Image YResolution": "8873343/150062", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2008:07:15 16:38:53", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "176", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5365", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5751", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "250", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:06:25 12:41:36", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:06:25 12:41:36", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "293791/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "108853/16384", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "400", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1832", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2517", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "\u0001\u0001\u0001\u0001", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[3, 0, 0, 0]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "5224", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "3888000/877", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "432000/97", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}