The secretary bird is one of the most distinctive of the raptors. Like many birds of prey, it shared a similar body to an eagle's in shape. But what made the secretary bird so unique were its long crane-like legs that gave it a height of about 4 feet and the several long plumes on the back of its head. Some say it got its name because of the resemblance this bird had to the ancient scribe who would tuck his quill behind one ear. Others say its name is actually a distortion of 'Sagittarius', as the bird's gait was said to resemble an archer's. Much like the crane, the secretary bird does its hunting on foot, stomping through the tall grass to scare up prey.
At Maelewano, they had an uplifted secretary bird. Ria insisted she got into administration by coincidence more than intent. Of course, seeing as she often has been busy at the office, it's not much of a surprise that hadn't been really noticed until recently. The recent locust swarm has brought more secretary birds into the area around Maelewano, so she was interesting to seeing more uplifted members of her own kind. She had felt some loneliness since her uplifting some years ago...
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When Maelewano was getting established, there was the task of finding suitable animals to uplift to populate it. There were several African animals from the Lyre zoo, but locals would help the community get more settled in. Uplifting the larger mammals was easy with a dart rifle and the smaller mammals could be uplifted the same way, though with a bit more work involved in hitting them. But now they had to add some birds to even things out.
Two rangers had been given the job of looking for suitable birds to uplift and were driving around in a jeep. "I cannot help but thing we've been sent on a wild goose chase," said one of them.
"Nah, no geese out here," said the other ranger with a cheeky smile.
"Seriously though. How are we supposed to be finding birds. Can't we just put some of that virus in the local watering hole?" asked the first ranger.
"And cause another outbreak?" asked the second one more seriously, "They want to build a place where they can coexist with nature harmoniously, not overturn the entire ecosystem."
"Ok, fine, but this isn't exactly a subtle way of searching for birds. You know how they fly off. And there so many tiny birds that we'd never be able to tag," said the first ranger.
"There's still the larger birds. There's the flamingos, the ibises, the storks, and- Oh look!" The second ranger stopped the jeep and pointed. A grey and black bird could be seen walking in the tall grass not far from them. It was ignoring the humans completely as it was focused on the ground. Presently, it lunged down and caught a mouse in its beak before it ate it on the spot.
"Well, I don't think they have a secretary bird yet, do they?" asked the second ranger.
"The only anthropomorphic secretary bird I've ever saw was in that 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' movie," said the first ranger.
"Well then, I think this one would be a good addition," said the second ranger as he loaded his dart rifle.
Fortunately, the secretary bird wasn't paying attention to them, right up until the dart hit its neck. The bird gave a squawk before trying to fly away. However, it quickly became disoriented and came to a staggering landing not too far away. Presently, the secretary bird started growing taller, its torso becoming longer. There were a few uncomfortable-sounding cracks as its wings were moved onto the back as new arms started growing. As the torso expanded, it became very clear what sex the bird was. Breasts grew out on her chest, growing to a respectable size as her waist caved in and her hips grew out. Her avian squawks of pain turned into groans as her larynx and brain expanded. Eventually, the secretary bird reached up with her new hand and plucked the dart out of her neck. "Ow, that hurt," she complained.
"Sorry about that," called the second ranger, "Didn't think you'd hold still for that."
The secretary bird turned to face the two of them, hands on her hips. "And what was that for anyways?" she demanded.
"Well, we've been looking for birds to join this new community of uplifted animals like yourself," said the first ranger, "Think you might be interested?"
The secretary thought it over a moment with her newly-enhanced brain. "Why not?" she said with a shrug, "It's not like I have anything better to do."
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The secretary bird, who soon named herself Ria, found Maelewano a rather interesting place to live. It's not like she had a nest or anything and she liked the looks of these new building. Certainly they were a more comfortable place to roost than the top of a tree. Of course, Animalians were expected to take up some form of job as part of the community. Ria ended up gravitating towards Maelewano's administration. However, she made it clear it wasn't because she was a secretary bird. Ria had a very, very keen eye for details, doubtlessly because of a lifetime of hunting for small prey in tall grass. There are some who would joke she'd be a very effective lawyer, though they'd say that well out of her hearing range.
The current locust infestation was wearing everyone thing on top of the pandemic going on. There were several Animalians trying to help out, but there was only so many locusts that they could eat. And eating more was quickly losing its appeal. Currently, they were looking into what Pakistan was doing and sending ducks to deal with locusts. Not uplifted ducks, but ordinary ducks, that could eat up to 200 locusts a day. While the locusts would still heavily outnumber the ducks, it would at least put a dent on their numbers. Ria was certainly open to the idea. If nothing else, duck would make a more appetizing dinner than locusts later.