harpy eagle

The Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja) range in tropical lowland forests from south-eastern Mexico to northern Argentina and southern Brazil. The scientific and common names come from the Greek ‘harpe’, referring to a bird of prey, the mythological harpies (winged creatures with a woman’s face, a vulture’s body and sharp claws). This raptor is one of the most endangered species in the world. A pair of Harpy Eagles needs around 30 square kilometres of tracts of healthy forest to thrive and survive at the top of the food chain. The Harpy Eagle’s feathers are slate black on top with white to light grey beneath. A black band crosses from the neck down to the chest and the tail has long, dark grey feathers with horizontal bars. Their legs are covered with light grey feathers ending in yellow feet as big as a human hand and 5-inch long talons. Male and female have a double crest of large, pale grey feathers, which they raise when alerted and to indicate hostility. A facial disk like an owl probably focuses sound. Their eyes are dark brown and close-set and they are highly accurate judges of distance. They have a powerful, hooked grey bill. The female harpy is almost twice the size of the male and weighs up to 9 kg (20 lbs) with a wingspan of about 2.1m (7 feet). Their hind talons are the size of grizzly bear or tiger’s claws and exert sufficient pressure to crush the bones of sloths, monkeys and other prey it snatches from the forest canopy. Harpy Eagles also feed on opossums, some reptiles and birds, although they can only fly carrying prey weighing up to approximately one half of their body weight. Their wings are relatively short compared to other eagles’ wings and designed mainly for speed and manoeuvrability for twists and turns through the forest treetops and, in a swooping dive, to tear prey from the tree branches with five-inch long claws and powerful legs. They can fly at speeds above 50 mph. The harpy eagle is monogamous (mating for life) and has a lengthy chick-rearing period and delayed sexual maturity. They nest high in the canopy, about 100 to 200 feet (40 meters) above the ground. Nests are built with loose sticks and fresh leaves in ceiba or kapok tree branches. Two eggs are normally laid, but once the first egg hatches, the other one is ignored and fails to hatch. The incubation period is 52 to 56 days. This eagle is the world’s most powerful bird of prey with few natural predators. In fact, humans are the main threat to this species, through loss of habitat – deforestation due to development, logging, and agriculture. Adult birds are preyed on by villagers, who kill them for food, feathers and shamanistic ritual.  Often they are killed in fear, as they are a very large, powerful raptor and although no attacks on humans have been recorded to date, the fear continues.