Harpy eagle
Harpia harpyja
SUBFAMILY
Accipitrinae
TAXONOMY
Vultur harpyja Linnaeus, 1758, Mexico. Monotypic.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
French: Harpie féroce; German: Marpyie; Spanish: Arpía Mayor.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
35–41.3 in (89–105 cm); male 8.8–10.6 lb (4–4.8 kg); female 16.8–19.8 lb (7.6–9 kg). Large, regal raptor with gray head, white breast, and long barred tail.
DISTRIBUTION
Southern Mexico through Central America to Columbia, east through Venezuela and south through Bolivia, Brazil, and north-east Argentina.
HABITAT
Lowland tropical forest, mostly up to about 2,950 ft (900 m). Occurs in uninterrupted forest, but will nest where high-grade trees have been logged and hunt through forest remnants intermixed with pasture.
BEHAVIOR
Occasionally, in the early morning sunbathes on prominent perches emerging from the forest. Rarely, if ever, soars, unlike typical eagles. Thought to be largely sedentary but suggestion that the population in southern Atlantic forests may be migratory.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
One of the most powerful of avian predators. Preys on large, difficult vertebrates including howler, capuchin and saki monkeys, sloths, opossums, porcupines, and anteaters. Also reptiles, such as snakes and iguanas, and ground mammals, such as agoutis, domestic pigs and young deer. Bird prey include curassows, macaws, and seriemas. Hunts from a perch at the forest edge or clearing, at rivers and beside salt licks.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Monogamous. Lays in June in Guyana, September–November in Brazil. Builds a bulky nest of large sticks, usually in enormous, emergent tree. Clutches of incubation is 56 days; fledge at about give months. Unusually, male brings prey to nest only twice a week during first half of nestling period.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not globally threatened but considered Near Threatened. Uncommon and sparsely distributed throughout range. Has all but disappeared from large parts of former range, notably north and central South America. Extensive deforestation is a significant and continuing threat.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.
