American Harpy Eagles
American Harpy Eagles
Birds of Prey ... The Sport of Falconry
The Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja),
sometimes known as the American Harpy
Eagle, is a Neotropical species of eagle.
This species was first described by
Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 as
Vultur harpyja. It is the only member of the
genus Harpia.
It is the largest and most powerful raptor
found in the Americas, and among the
largest extant species of eagles in the world.
It usually inhabits tropical lowland
rainforests in the upper (emergent) canopy
layer.
Its name refers to the harpies of Ancient
Greek mythology. These were wind spirits
that took the dead to Hades, and were said
to have a body like an eagle and the face of
a human.
Description
The upper side of the Harpy Eagle is
covered with slate black feathers, and the underside is with white. There is a
black band across the chest up to the neck. The head is pale grey, and is
crowned with a double crest. The plumage of male and female is identical. The
talons are up to 13 cm (5 in) long.
Female Harpy Eagles typically weigh 6.5 kg to 9 kg (14 to 20 lbs). One
exceptional captive female, "Jezebel", weighed 12.3 kg (26 lb), possibly
because of relative lack of exercise and readily available food at a zoo. The
male, in comparison, weighs only about 3.8 kg to 5.4 kg (8.5 lb to 12 lb). Harpy
Eagles are 89-105 cm (2.94-3.43 ft) long and have a wingspan of approximately
200 cm (6 ft, 7 in). Among extant species, only the Philippine Eagle and the
Steller's Sea Eagle approach similar dimensions, although the wingspan of the
Harpy Eagle is relatively small (an adaptation that increases maneuverability in
forested habitats) and is matched or surpassed by other species. The extinct
Haast's Eagle was significantly larger than the Harpy.
Ecology
This species is an actively hunting
carnivore. Its main prey are tree-dwelling
mammals such as sloths, monkeys, coatis,
porcupines and opossums;; research
conducted between 2003 and 2005 in a
nesting site in Parintins, Amazonas, Brazil,
where remains from prey offered to the
nestling were collected and identified,
concluded that, in terms of individuals
preyed upon, the harpy's prey basis was
composed in 79% by sloths from two
species: Bradypus variegatus amounting to
39 % of the individual prey base, and
Choloepus didactylus to 40 %; various
monkeys amounted to 11.6% of the same
prey base. The eagle may also attack bird
species such as macaws: at the Parintins
reasearch site, the Green-winged Macaws
(Ara chloroptera) made for 0.4% of the prey
base, with other birds amounting to 4.6%
The harpy's talons are extremely powerful and assist with suppressing prey.
The Harpy Eagle can exert a pressure of 42 kgf/cm² (4.1 MPa or 530lbf/in2) with
its talons. It can also lift more than three-quarters of its body weight.
A pair of Harpy Eagles lays two white eggs in a large stick nest high in a tree,
and raise one chick every 2–3 years. After the first chick hatches, the second
egg is ignored and fails to hatch. The chick fledges in 6 months, but the parents
continue to feed it for another 6 to 10 months. It can be aggressive toward
humans who disturb its nesting sites or appear to be a threat to its young. The
harpy often builds its nest in the crown of the kapok tree, one of the tallest trees
in South America. In many South American cultures it is considered bad luck to
cut down the kapok tree, which may help safe guard the habitat of this stately
eagle.
Status and conservation
The Harpy Eagle is threatened
primarily by habitat loss provoked by
the expansion of logging, cattle
ranching, agriculture and
prospecting; secondarily by being
hunted as an actual threat to
livestock and/or a supposed one to
human life, due to its great size.
Such threats apply throughout its
range, in large parts of which the bird
has become a transient sight only: in
Brazil, it was all but totally wiped out
from the Atlantic rainforest and is
only found in numbers in the most
remote parts of the Amazon Basin; a
Brazilian journalistic account of the
mid-1990s already complained that
at the time it was only found in
numbers, in Brazilian territory, on the
northern side of the Equator.
Scientific 1990s records, however,
suggest that the Harpy Atlantic
Forest population may be migratory.
Subsequent research in Brazil has established that, as of 2009, the Harpy
Eagle, outside the Brazilian Amazon, is critically endangered in Espírito Santo,
São Paulo and Paraná, endangered in Rio de Janeiro, and probably extirpated
in Rio Grande do Sul and Minas Gerais - the actual size of her total population
in Brazil being unknown.
Globally, the Harpy Eagle is considered Near Threatened by the International
Union for Conservation of Nature and threatened with extinction by CITES
(appendix I). The Peregrine Fund consider it a "conservation-dependent
species", meaning it depends on a dedicated effort for captive breeding and
release to the wild as well as habitat protection in order to prevent it from
reaching endangered status. A research project is currently afoot at the National
Institute of Amazonian Research, through which 45 known nesting locations
(presently updated to 62, only three outside the Amazonian Basin and all three
presently inactive) are being monitored by researchers and voluntaries from
local communities. A Harpy Eagle chick has been fitted with a radio transmitter
that will allow it to be tracked for more than three years via a satellite signal sent
to INPE (Brazilian National Institute for Space Research) .
In January 2009, a chick from the all but extinct population in the Brazilian state
of Paraná was hatched in captivity at the preserve kept at the vicinity of the
Itaipu dam by the Brazilian/Paraguayan state-owned company Itaipu
Binacional. In September 2009, an adult female, after being kept captive for
twelve years in a private reservation, was fitted with a radiotransmitter before
being restored to the wild in the vicinity of the Pau Brasil National Park (formerly
Monte Pascoal NP) , in the State of Bahia.
Popular culture
The Harpy Eagle is the national bird of
Panama and is depicted on the coat of
arms of Panama.
The Harpy Eagle is featured on the cover
of the O'Reilly Media book, R in a
Nutshell.
The Harpy Eagle was the inspiration
behind the design of Fawkes the Phoenix
in the Harry Potter film series.
A Harpy Eagle called Bubba features
extensively in Garry Kilworth's novel
"Frost Dancers" as the adversary of the
hares that are the heroes of the book.
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