Wild Relatives: The Mighty Harpy Eagle an Impressive Bird
- mmcmahon09
- Apr 29
- 4 min read
Editor’s note: Our Wild Relatives story series will explore the connections between our local wildlife species and related animals from around the globe. By learning about these exotic species, we hope to foster appreciation for the remarkable creatures that live in our backyards and neighborhoods.
Bald eagles are an impressive-looking bird. As adults, they are immediately recognizable thanks to their white heads and hooked yellow beaks. Our national bird is one of about 60 eagle species worldwide, and some of the other eagle species are impressive as well.
Take the harpy eagle. Just like the bald eagle, harpy eagles have a distinctive look. However, you wouldn’t confuse a bald eagle for a harpy eagle. Harpy eagles are one of the largest eagle species in the world. They are mostly gray in color but with a white underside. They have a black band on their necks and a crest of feathers atop their heads.
Harpy eagles are primarily found in the rainforests of South America. They also live in smaller numbers in parts of Central America and southern Mexico.
Just like the bald eagle is our national bird, the harpy eagle is the national bird of Panama. That's not its only claim to fame. The Fawkes character in the Harry Potter series of books was inspired by the harpy eagle, and the bird is also the symbol of biodiversity in Ecuador and the emblem of the Colombian Air Force.
Big birds
Harpy eagles are impressively sized. They can stand 36 inches to 40 inches tall, and their wingspan is an impressive 6 1/2 feet. As with most raptors, females are larger than males — almost twice as large. The female harpies weigh between 13 pounds and 20 pounds, while males weigh between 9 pounds and 11 pounds.
Words to know
Apex: The top or the highest part of something.
Distinctive: Characteristics of something that serve to distinguish it from others.
Incubate: To sit on eggs to keep them warm and bring them to hatching.
Maneuver: A movement or series of moves requiring skill or care.
Monogamy: The habit of having only one mate at a time.
Bald eagles have a similar wingspan to the harpy eagle, but they typically only weigh between 6 pounds and 12 pounds, with females being larger than males.
These large birds need a large range. A harpy eagle territory can be more than 10,000 acres. In the rainforests where they live, they usually remain in the tree canopy. They seldom fly over the treetops. Instead, they prefer to maneuver through the canopy because they don't have to use as much energy.
Apex predators
We don't typically think of birds as being at the top of the food chain, but harpy eagles are apex predators in the rainforests where they live. They do not have any natural predators.
Like bald eagles, harpy eagles rely on excellent vision to hunt. They can see something as small as 1 inch from more than 200 yards away! They hunt while perched in the trees, and they swoop down to catch their prey with their impressive talons.
Their black talons are 4 inches to 5 inches long — the same size as the claws on a grizzly bear. Because of their long, strong talons, they are able to lift prey that weighs as much as they do.
Harpy eagles mostly eat animals that live in the same trees they do. Their diet is varied and includes monkeys, sloths, opossums, porcupines, snakes and iguanas. They may even snatch a young deer from the ground.
Females typically prey on larger animals because they are much larger than the male birds. The eagles eat about 1 3/4 pounds of food each day, but they don't have to hunt every day. They will stash excess food in the trees and return later to eat it.
Lifelong partnerships
Monogamy isn't all that common in the animal kingdom in general, but it is fairly common among some kinds of birds. Most ducks, geese and swans are monogamous, and so are bald eagles and harpy eagles. Harpy eagles partner for life and also share the workload over the first several months of their chicks' lives. But the females have a heavier parenting load than the males.
Breeding pairs build their nests high up in the trees, as high as 165 feet above the ground. Big birds need big nests, and harpy eagle nests do not disappoint. Their nests, which they make out of sticks, can be the size of a double bed. The pair brings fresh twigs to the nest to help keep it free of insects and parasites.
Harpy eagles only mate every two or three years. The female will lay one or two eggs. Typically only one chick survives because once one egg hatches the chick gets all the parents' attention and the second egg is not properly incubated. The chicks are fed by their parents for about 10 months after hatching. They begin the process of fledging, or learning to fly, when they are about 5 months or 6 months old.
Mounting threats
Harpy eagles may not have many natural predators, but they do face many threats. The International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species classifies the harpy eagle as vulnerable, and their population is declining. Today, harpy eagles are rare across much of their native range.
Loss of habitat is one of the primary threats these birds face. Each established pair of harpy eagles requires a large undisturbed area of forest for hunting and nesting, but the tropical rainforests where they live have been altered by logging activities. Additional threats include poaching and destruction of nesting sites. Recently, hunters have begun killing the eagles for sport.
Because harpies only breed every two or three years and usually only raise one chick from each brood, it can be difficult for their population to recover once it begins to decline. The Peregrine Fund established a breeding program for the birds in 1989. Through the program, nearly 50 adult harpy eagles were released in the wild in Belize and Panama.
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