The secretary bird stands at about 4 feet tall and stalks its prey on the ground instead of from the air. They’re very well known for their ability to kill snakes, and typically stomps small animals of all kinds to death.

While it is a stunning creature, and I have tried to give it elegance in the delicate shading and lines of the body, it seemed appropriate to offset it with large, bold, and outlined stripes in the background in order to emphasize the ferocity in its movement. The stripes push the bird forward into the empty space before it and on to its prey.