Wednesday, February 29, 2012

>>Genus Spizastur >Spizastur melanoleucus (Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle)

Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle

Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Falconiformes
(or Accipitriformes, q.v.)
Family:Accipitridae
Genus:Spizaetus
Species:S. melanoleucus
Binomial name
Spizaetus melanoleucus
(Vieillot, 1816)
Synonyms
Buteo melanoleucus Vieillot, 1816
Spizastur melanoleucus (Vieillot, 1816)
The Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle (Spizaetus melanoleucus, formerly Spizastur melanoleucus) is a bird of prey species in the eagle and hawk family (Accipitridae). It is found throughout a large part of tropical America, from southern Mexico to northern Argentina.


Description

As its name suggest, this is a black and white eagle, resembling the small typical eagles sometimes separated in "Hieraaetus". It is some 20-24 in (50–60 cm) long overall and weighs about 30 oz (850 g). The head, neck and body are white; a small crest forms a black spot on top of the head, and the area around the eyes, particularly towards the bill, is also black. The wings are black, and the bird has a brownish tail barred black-dark grey and with white tip. Theiris is orange, the feet pale to bright yellow with black talons. The bill is black with a yellowcere.
The sexes are alike in color, but the female is larger. Immature birds have pale edges on the upperwing coverts and some brownish-grey feathers on the back.
The Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle is hard to confuse with any other bird in its range. The Black-faced Hawk (Leucopternis melanops) is very similar in overall coloration, but it is much smaller and has a black tail with a single bold white bar in the middle. The Ornate Hawk-Eagle(Spizaetus ornatus), presumably a very close relative of S. melanoleucus, looks quite similar when young. However, the wings, back and tail are much lighter in young S. ornatus, and they do not have the black eye-ring.


Distribution and ecology

This species occurs from Oaxaca to Veracruz in southern Mexico southwards throughout Central America, with the exception of most of El Salvador and the Pacific coast of Nicaragua. In South America, it occurs on the Pacific side of the Andes south to Ecuador. The bulk of its range extends along the Caribbean coast from northern Colombia and Venezuela to the Guianas, and south through eastern BrazilParaguay and Uruguay to NE Argentina, and from there westwards again to Beni and Santa Cruz in NE Bolivia. A Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle population is also found in the Loreto Region of NE Peru; it is not known in how far this is isolated from the rest of the bird's range. The species is absent from western Amazonia, and it is not common in the lands to the east (e.g. in Minas Gerais).
Its natural habitats are lowland forests of any type, though very dense and humid as well as savanna-like semiarid habitat are not preferred.Habitat fragmentation is not very well tolerated; though the species prefers a diverse habitat of mixed forest and shrubland, it requires large stands of closed-canopy forest to thrive. Its range does not extend very far into the uplands, but one individual was sighted at an altitude of about 4,000 ft (c.1,200 m) ASL in the Buena Vista Nature Reserve in Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
The food of this carnivore consists of mammalstoadssquamates and in particular a wide variety of birds. Among the latter, it is known to prefer tree-living species, such as oropendolasaracaristanagers and cotingas. But ground- and waterbirds like tinamouschachalacas,cormorants and the highly threatened Brazilian Merganser (Mergus octosetaceus) have also been recorded as its prey. The Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle has been known to attack small monkeys, though it is not clear with which intent. For as it seems, it has not been recorded to actually kill and eat a monkey.
Its preferred hunting technique is to soar high until it has spotted suitable prey, and then dive down on it, usually right into the forest canopy, but it has also been observed to catch a White Woodpecker (Melanerpes candidus) that had been mobbing it in mid-air, after launching itself from its perch. It likes to hunt along ridges and forest edges where it can access the canopy-level from an oblique direction rather than just from directly above, and where ground-living prey is also more accessible.
It nests in the forest canopy, building a stick nest high up in exposed trees on ridges and similar locations, from where good hunting grounds can be watched. Detailed observations on its nesting habits are nearly non-existent however. In Panama, birds started to construct a nest in September, during a dry spell in the rainy season. But the main nesting season may start before the onset of the rainy season as the nesting attempt was abandoned when heavy rains recommenced. The scant other data agrees with this, and at least in Central America the nesting season seems to run from March to June or so.
There is a general lack of information on the Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle's movements and population status. Each bird seems to require a hunting territory of about 3,500 acres (1,400 hectars) at least. While the variety of habitat types in which it is found suggests that it is not particularly susceptible to changes in land use, it is apparently still a rare and local species almost anywhere in its range. The IUCN until 2000 classified it as a Near Threatened species due to the uncertainties surrounding its status, but as no evidence of a marked decline has been found and as the bird is found across a wide range, it was downlisted to a Species of Least Concern.


Taxonomy and systematics

This species is often placed in the monotypic genus Spizastur, but has recently been moved to Spizaetus e.g. by the American Ornithologists' Union, as it appears that the Ornate Hawk-Eagle (S. ornatus) is its sister taxon.This has created quite some taxonomic confusion, which has largely gone unnoticed however:
Originally, the name Spizaetus melanoleucus was given by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot to the Black-chested Buzzard-eagle in 1819, while the Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle had been described in 1816 by the very same scientist as Buteo melanoleucus. The former species was placed inGeranoaetus – also a monotypic genus – in 1844, while the Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle had been moved out of Buteo and into Spizastur a few years earlier.
Thus, the identical specific epithets never came into direct conflict until recently. But the Black-chested Eagle-buzzard's placement in a monotypic genus was always disputed, and several authors treated it in Buteo.However, they overlooked that Buteo melanoleucus was the original name of the Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle and thus as a senior homonym could not be applied to the later-described species. The correct specific name for the Black-chested Eagle-buzzard when placed in ButeoButeo fuscescens, was reestablished in the mid-20th century for a short time more by accident than anything else;as most late-20th-century researchers argued for retaining Geranoaetus, this name was dismissed as erroneous and essentially forgotten.
As the Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle has not been placed in Buteo since long, Article 59.3 of the ICZN Code applies. According to this, a junior homonym replaced before 1961 is not rendered permanently invalid (as junior homonyms usually are) if "the substitute name is not in use"– which has been the case after Amadon's 1963 revision. Hence, in this case the scientific name Buteo melanoleucus can apply to the Black-chested Eagle-buzzard, even though the Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle was described under exactly that name earlier, while the senior homonym melanoleucus still applies to the latter species when placed in Spizaetus according to the usual ICZN rules. Consequently, the proper name to use for each bird has through a number of coincidences become the senior synonym of the other species.

>>Genus Oroaetus >Oroaetus isidori (Black-and-chestnut Eagle)

Black-and-chestnut Eagle


Black-and-chestnut Eagle
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Falconiformes
(or Accipitriformes, q.v.)
Family:Accipitridae
Genus:Spizaetus
Species:S. isidori
Binomial name
Spizaetus isidori
(Des Murs, 1845)
Synonyms
Oroaetus isidori (Des Murs, 1845)
The Black-and-chestnut Eagle (Spizaetus isidori) is a South American species of bird of prey in the Accipitridae family. It is sometimes called Isidor's Eagle. It is often placed in the monotypicgenus Oroaetus.
This is a fairly large eagle at 63–74 cm (25–29 in) long with a wingspan of 147–166 cm (58–66 in). As an adult, this species is glossy black on the head and the back and a streaky chestnut on the underside, much of the wing primaries and legs. The juvenile bird is very different, being whitish over the head and body with a buffy wash underneath and scaly gray on the back and wings. Nest building is February and March, laying eggs in April and May and fledging young by August and September. It builds a huge stick nest about 2 m (6.6 ft) across and 1 m (3.3 ft) deep. Clutches include 1 to 2 fledgings. At the nest area, adults primarily bring squirrels to their young.
They are known to prey on woolly monkeysporcupinescoatis and other mid-sized arboreal mammals. Large birds such as guans are also taken. They frequently have much abraded tails by plunging after prey through the branches. They overlap in range with several other large forest eagles, including Solitary Eagle and possibly other Spizaetus eagles, but no interactions have been reported and the Black-and-chestnut Eagle is believed to be normally the top avian predator in its range.
It is found humid montane forests, normally at elevations between 1,800-2,500 meters, in theAndes from northern Argentina, through BoliviaPeruEcuadorColombia, to Venezuela, with isolated populations in the Venezuelan Coastal RangeSerranía del Perijá and Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. It is generally local and rare.

>>Genus Harpyopsis (Papuan Eagle)

Papuan Eagle

Papuan Eagle
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Accipitriformes
Family:Accipitridae
Genus:Harpyopsis
Salvadori, 1875
Species:H. novaeguineae
Binomial name
Harpyopsis novaeguineae
Salvadori, 1875
The Papuan Eagle (Harpyopsis novaeguineae) also known as the Papuan Harpy EagleNew Guinea Eagle, or Kapul Eagle, is a huge (up to 90 cm long) greyish brown raptor with a short full crest, broad three-banded wings, powerful beak, large iris, long rounded tail and white underparts. It has long and powerful unfeathered legs with sharp claws. The sexes are similar, and the female is slightly larger than the male. It is the only member of the monotypic genus Harpyopsis.
The Papuan Eagle is endemic to undisturbed tropical rainforests of New Guinea, where it became the top predator of the island. The diet consists mainly of phalangers or Kapul in a local language, hence its alternative name. It also feeds on other mammals, birds and snakes.
One of a group of four large eagles, the others being the Crested and Harpy Eagle of South America and the Philippine Eagle of the Philippines, the New Guinea Harpy Eagle is essentially a mountain bird that nests in high forest trees.
Due to ongoing habitat loss, small population size, and hunting for its feathers which are used on ceremonial occasions, the Papuan Eagle is evaluated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.

>>Genus Pithecophaga (Philippine Eagle)

Philippine Eagle

Philippine Eagle
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Falconiformes
(or Accipitriformes, q.v.)
Family:Accipitridae
Genus:Pithecophaga
Ogilvie-Grant, 1896
Species:P. jefferyi
Binomial name
Pithecophaga jefferyi
Ogilvie-Grant, 1897
Range in blue green
The Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi), also known as the Monkey-eating Eagle, is an eagle of the family Accipitridae that is endemic to forests in the Philippines. It has brown and white-coloured plumage, and a shaggy crest, and generally measures 86 to 102 centimetres (2.82 to 3.35 ft) in length and weighs 4.7 to 8 kilograms (10 to 18 lb). Among the rarest, largest, and most powerful birds in the world, it has been declared the Philippine national bird. It is critically endangered, mainly due to massive loss of habitat due to deforestation in most of its range. Killing a Philippine Eagle is punishable under Philippine law by twelve years in jail and heavy fines.


Taxonomy

The first European to discover the species in 1896 was the English explorer and naturalist John Whitehead, who observed the bird and whose servant, Juan, collected the first specimen a few weeks later.The skin of the bird was sent to William Robert Ogilvie-Grant in London in 1896, who initially showed it off in a local restaurant and described the species a few weeks later.
Upon its discovery, the Philippine Eagle was first called the monkey-eating eagle because of reports from natives of Bonga, Samar, where the species was first discovered, that it preyed exclusively on monkeys; from these reports it gained its generic name, from the Greek pithecus ("ape or monkey") and phagus ("eater of"). The specific name commemorates Jeffery Whitehead, the father of John Whitehead. Later studies revealed, however, that the alleged monkey-eating eagle also ate other animals such as colugocivets, large snakesmonitor lizards, and even large birds like hornbills. This, coupled with the fact that the same name applied to the African Crowned Eagleand the Central and South American Harpy Eagle, resulted in a presidential proclamation to change its name to Philippine Eagle in 1978, and in 1995 was declared a national emblem. This species has no recognized subspecies.
Apart from Philippine Eagle and Monkey-eating Eagle, it has also been called the Great Philippine Eagle. It has numerous local names, including agila ("eagle"), haribonharing ibon ("bird king") andbanog ("kite").


Evolutionary history

A study of the skeletal features in 1919 led to the suggestion that the nearest relative was theHarpy Eagle. The species was included in the subfamily Harpiinae until a 2005 study of DNAsequences which identified them as non-members of the group, finding instead, that the nearest relatives are snake eagles (Circaetinae) such as the Bateleur. The species has subsequently been placed in the subfamily Circaetinae.


Description

The Philippine Eagle's nape is adorned with long brown feathers that form a shaggy crest. These feathers give it the appearance of possessing a lion's mane, which in turn resembles the mythicalgriffin. The eagle has a dark face and a creamy-brown nape and crown. The back of the Philippine Eagle is dark brown, while the underside and underwings are white. The heavy legs are yellow with large, powerful dark claws, and the prominent large, high-arched, deep beak is a bluish-gray. The eagle's eyes are blue-gray. Juveniles are similar to adults except that their upperpart feathers have pale fringes.
The Philippine Eagle is typically reported as being 86–102 centimetres (2.82–3.35 ft) long, but a survey at several of the largestnatural history collection in the world found that the average was 95 centimetres (3.12 ft) for males and 105 centimetres (3.44 ft) for females. Based on the latter measurements, this makes it the longest extant species of eagle, as the average for the female equals themaximum reported for the Harpy Eagle and Steller's Sea Eagle.The longest Philippine Eagle reported anywhere and the longest eagle outside of the extinct Haast's Eagle is a specimen of unknown sex at the Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH) that is 112 centimetres (3.67 ft), but it had been kept in captivity and therefore may not represent the wild individuals due to differences in the food availability.The level of sexual dimorphism in size is not certain, but it is believed that the male typically is about 10% smaller than the female and this is supported by the average length provided for males and females in one source.For adult Philippine Eagles, the complete weight range has been reported as 4.7 to 8 kilograms (10 to 18 lb), while others have found that the average was 4.5 kilograms (9.9 lb) for males and 6 kilograms (13 lb) for females. It has a wingspan of 184 to 202 centimetres (6.04 to 6.63 ft). The maximum reported weight is surpassed by two other eagles (the Harpy and Steller's Sea Eagle) and the wings are shorter than large eagles of open country (such as the Martial EagleWedge-tailed Eagle and Steller's Sea Eagle), but are quite broad.
The most frequently heard noises made by the Philippine Eagle are loud, high-pitched whistles ending with inflections in pitch. Additionally, juveniles have been known to beg for food by a series of high-pitched calls.


Distribution and habitat

The Philippine Eagle is endemic to the Philippines and can be found on four major islands: eastern LuzonSamarLeyte and Mindanao. The largest number of eagles reside on Mindanao, with between 82 and 233 breeding pairs. Only six pairs are found on Samar, two on Leyte, and a few on Luzon. It can be found in Northern Sierra Madre National Park on Luzon and Mount Apo and Mount Kitanglad National Parks on Mindanao.
This eagle is found in dipterocarp and mid-montane forests, particularly in steep areas. Its elevation ranges from the lowlands to mountains of over 1,800 metres (5,900 ft). It is estimated that only 9,220 square kilometers (2,280,000 acres) of old growth forest remain in the bird's range. However, its total estimated range is about 146,000 square kilometers (56,000 sq mi).


Ecology and behavior

Evolution in the Philippine islands, without other predators, made the eagles the dominant hunter in the Philippine forests. Each breeding pair requires a large home range to successfully raise a chick, and thus the species is extremely vulnerable to deforestation. Earlier it has been estimated that the territory is about 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi), but a study on Mindanao Island found the nearest distance between breeding pairs to be about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) on average, resulting in a circular plot of 133 square kilometres (51 sq mi).
The species' flight is fast and agile, resembling the smaller hawks more than similar large birds of prey.
Juveniles in play behavior have been observed gripping knotholes in trees with their talons and, using its tail and wings for balance, inserting its head into a tree cavity.Additionally, they have been known to attack inanimate objects for practice as well as attempt to hang upside down to work on their balance. As the parents are not nearby when this occurs, it has been suggested that they do not play a role in teaching the juvenile to hunt.
Life expectancy for a wild eagle is estimated to be anywhere from 30 to 60 years. A captive Philippine Eagle lived for 41 years in Rome Zoo, and it was already adult when it arrived at the zoo. However, it is believed that wild birds on average live shorter lives than captive birds.


Diet

The Philippine Eagle was known initially as the Philippine Monkey-Eating Eagle because it was believed to feed on monkeys (the only monkey native to the Philippines is the Philippine long-tailed macaque) exclusively; this has proven to be inaccurate. The primary prey varies from island to island depending on species availability, particularly in Luzon and Mindanao. This is due to the islands being in different faunal regions. For example, Philippine flying lemurs, the preferred prey in Mindanao, are absent in Luzon. The primary prey for the eagles seen in Luzon are monkeys, birds, flying foxes, giant cloud-rats Phloeomys pallidus which can weigh twice as much as flying lemurs (that is, 2 to 2.5 kg), and reptiles such as large snakes and lizards. The eagles prefer flying lemurs and Asian Palm Civets, but they occasionally eat small mammals, birds (owls and hornbills), reptiles (snakes and monitor lizards), and even other birds of prey. There have been reports of eagles capturing young pigs and small dogs. It is estimated that the flying lemur could make up 90% of the raptor's diet in some locations.
Eagle pairs sometimes hunt troops of monkey cooperatively, with one bird perching nearby to distract the primates allowing the other to swoop in unnoticed for the kill.


Reproduction


A Philippine Eagle nestling
The complete breeding cycle of the Philippine Eagle lasts two years. The female matures sexually at five years of age and the male at seven. Like most eagles, the Philippine Eagle is monogamous. Once paired, a couple remains together for the rest of their lives. If one dies, the remaining eagle often searches for a new mate to replace the one lost.
The beginning of courtship is signaled by nest-building and the eagle remaining near its nest. Aerial displays also play a major role in the courtship. These displays include paired soaring over a nesting territory, the male chasing the female in a diagonal dive, and mutual talon presentation, where the male presents his talons to the female's back and she flips over in mid-air to present her own talons. Advertisement displays coupled with loud calling have also been reported. The willingness of an eagle to breed is displayed by the eagle bringing nesting materials to the bird's nest. Copulation follows and occurs repeatedly both on the nest and on nearby perches. The earliest courtship has been reported in July.
Breeding begins between September and February; birds on different islands, most notably Mindanao and Luzon, begin breeding at different ends of this range. The amount of rainfall and population of prey may also affect the breeding season. The nest is normally built on an emergent dipterocarp, or any tall tree with an open crown, in primary or disturbed forest and may be nearly 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) across and about 30 metres (98 ft) above the ground. The eagle's nest resembles a huge platform made of sticks. The eagle frequently reuses the same nesting site for several different chicks. Eight to ten days before the egg is ready to be laid, the female is afflicted with a condition known as egg lethargy. In this experience, the female does not eat, drinks lots of water, and holds its wings droopingly. The female typically lays one egg in the late afternoon or at dusk, although occasionally two have been reported.If an egg fails to hatch or the chick dies early, the parents will likely lay another egg the following year. Copulation may last a few days after the egg is laid to enable another egg to be laid should the first one fail. The egg is incubated for 58 to 68 days after being laid. Both sexes participate in the incubation, but the female does the majority of incubating during the day and all of it at night.
Both sexes help feed the newly hatched eaglet. Additionally, the parents have been observed taking turns shielding the eaglet from the sun and rain until it is seven weeks old. The young eaglet fledges after four or five months. The earliest an eagle has been observed making a kill is 304 days after hatching. Both parents take care of the eaglet for a total of twenty months.


Conservation


A Philippine Eagle named Sir Arny, at Philippine Eagle Center, Davao City.
In 2010, the IUCN and BirdLife International listed this species as critically endangered. TheInternational Union for the Conservation of Nature believes that between 180 and 500 Philippine Eagles survive in the Philippines.They are threatened primarily by deforestation through logging and expanding agriculture. Old growth forest is being lost at a high rate, and most of the eagle's forest in the lowlands is owned by logging companies.Mining, pollution, exposure to pesticides that affect breeding, and poaching are also major threats. Additionally, they are occasionally caught in traps laid by local people for deer. Though this is no longer a major problem, the eagle's numbers were also reduced by being captured for zoos.
The diminishing numbers of the Philippine Eagle were first brought to international attention in 1965 by the noted Filipino ornithologistDioscoro S. Rabor, and the then director of the Parks and Wildlife Office, Jesus A. AlvarezCharles Lindbergh, best known for crossing the Atlantic alone and without stopping in 1927, was fascinated by this eagle. As a representative of the World Wildlife Fund, Lindbergh traveled to the Philippines several times between 1969 and 1972, where he helped persuade the government to protect the eagle. In 1969, the Monkey-eating Eagle Conservation Program was started to help preserve this species. In 1992, the first Philippine Eagles were born in captivity through artificial insemination; however, it was not until 1999 that the first naturally bred eaglet hatched. The first captive-bred bird to be released in the wild, Kabayan, was released in 2004 on Mindanao; however, he was accidentally electrocuted in January 2005. Another eagle, Kagsabua, was released March 6, 2008, but was shot and eaten by a farmer. Killing this critically endangered species is punishable under Philippine law by twelve years in jail and heavy fines.
Its numbers have slowly dwindled over the decades to the current population of 180 to 500 eagles. A series of floods and mud slides, caused by deforestation, further devastated the remaining population. The Philippine Eagle may soon no longer be found in the wild, unless direct intervention is taken. The Philippine Eagle Foundation of Davao CityMindanao is one organization dedicated to the protection and conservation of the Philippine Eagle and its forest habitat. The Philippine Eagle Foundation has successfully bred Philippine Eagles in captivity for over a decade and conducted the first experimental release of a captive-bred eagle to the wild. The foundation has 32 eagles at its center, of which 18 were bred in captivity.Ongoing research on behavior, ecology and population dynamics is also underway. In recent years protected lands have been established specifically for this species, such as the 700 square kilometers (170,000 acres) Cabuaya Forest and the 37.2 square kilometers (9,200 acres) Taft Forest Wildlife Sanctuary on Samar.However, a large proportion of the population is found on unprotected land.


Relationship with humans


Illustration of a bird kept in captivity in London in 1909–1910
The Philippine Eagle was officially declared the national bird of the Philippines on 4 July 1995 by President Fidel V. Ramos under Proclamation No. 615.This eagle, because of its size and rarity, is also a highly desired bird for birdwatchers.
The Philippine Eagle has also featured on at least twelve stamps from the Philippines, with dates ranging from 1967 to 2007. It was also depicted on the 50 centavo coins minted from 1981 to 1994.
Historically, about 50 Philippine Eagles have been kept in zoos in Europe (England, Germany,BelgiumItaly and France), United States and Japan.The first was a female that arrived inLondon Zoo in August 1909 and died there in February 1910. The majority arrived in zoos between 1947 and 1965. The last outside the Philippines died in 1988 in the Antwerp Zoowhere it had lived since 1964 (except for a period at the Planckendael Zoo in Belgium).The first captive breeding was only achieved in 1992 at the facility of the Philippine Eagle Foundation in Davao City, Mindanao, the Philippines, which has bred it several times since then.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

>>Genus Harpia (Harpy Eagle)

Harpy Eagle
Harpy Eagle
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Falconiformes
(or Accipitriformes, q.v.)
Family:Accipitridae
Genus:Harpia
Vieillot, 1816
Species:H. harpyja
Binomial name
Harpia harpyja
(Linnaeus, 1758)
The Harpy Eagle is rare throughout its range, which extends from Mexico to Argentina.
The Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja), sometimes known as the American Harpy Eagle, is aNeotropical species of eagle. 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 lowlandrainforests in the upper (emergent) canopy layer. Destruction of its natural habitat has seen it vanish from many parts of its former range, and it is almost extinct in Central America.


Taxonomy

This Harpy Eagle was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae in 1758 as Vultur harpyja, after the mythological beast harpy. The only member of the genus Harpia, The Harpy Eagle is most closely related to the Crested Eagle (Morphnus guianensis) and the New Guinea Harpy Eagle (Harpyopsis novaeguineae), the three composing the subfamily Harpiinae within the large family Accipitridae. Previously thought to be related, the Philippine Eagle has been shown by analysis of DNA to belong elsewhere in the raptor family as it is related to the Circaetinae.
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 mostly white, except for the feathered tarsi, which are striped black. 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 tarsus is up to 13 cm (5.1 in) long.

Upper body of an adult in captivity
Female Harpy Eagles typically weigh 6 to 9 kg (13 to 20 lb).One exceptionally large captive female, "Jezebel", weighed 12.3 kg (27 lb). Being captive, this large female may not be representative of the weight possible in wild Harpy Eagles due to differences in the food availability.The male, in comparison , is much smaller and weighs only about 4 to 4.8 kg (8.8 to 11 lb).The wings are relatively short and stubby, the female wing length measuring 58.3–62.6 cm, and the male wing length 54.3–58 cm. Harpy Eagles are 89–105 cm (2.92–3.44 ft) long and have a wingspan of 176 to 201 cm (5 ft 9 in to 6 ft 7 in). It is sometimes cited as the largest eagle, however the Philippine Eagle is slightly longer on average and the Steller's Sea Eagleis slightly heavier on average , although the wingspan of the Harpy Eagle is relatively small (an adaptation that increases maneuverability in forested habitats and is shared by other raptors in similar habitats) and is surpassed by several large eagles who live in more open habitats, such as the Haliaeetus and Aquila eagles.The extinct Haast's Eagle was significantly larger than all extant eagles, including the Harpy.


Distribution and habitat

Rare throughout its range, the Harpy Eagle is found from Mexico, through Central America and into South America to Argentina. In Central America the species is almost extinct, subsequent to the loss of much of the rainforest there. In rainforests they live from the canopy to the emergent. Within the rainforest they hunt in the canopy or sometimes on the ground, and perch on emergent trees looking for prey.


Behavior

Feeding


Feeding at Zoo Miami, USA
The Harpy Eagle is an actively hunting carnivore and is an apex predator, meaning that adults are at the top of a food chain and have no natural predators. Its main prey are tree-dwelling mammals such as slothsmonkeyscoatisporcupineskinkajousanteatersand opossums ; research conducted by Aguiar-Silva between 2003 and 2005 in a nesting site inParintinsAmazonas, Brazil, collected remains from prey offered to the nestling and after sorting them, 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. In a similar research venture in Panama, where a couple of captive-bred subadults was released, 52% of the male's captures and 54% of the female's were of two sloth species (Bradypus variegatus and Choloepus hoffmanni). In the Pantanal, a pair of nesting eagles preyed on the porcupine Coendou prehensilis and on the agouti Dasyprocta azarae. The eagle may also attack bird species such as macaws: At the Parintins research site, the Red-and-green Macaw made up for 0.4% of the prey base, with other birds amounting to 4.6%.Additional prey items reported include reptiles such as iguanas and snakes. On occasion, larger prey such as capybaras and young deer are taken and they are usually taken to a stump or low branch and partially eaten, since they are too heavy to be carried whole to the nest.The Harpy may take domestic livestock but this is extremely rare. They control population of mesopredators such as capuchin monkeys which prey extensively on bird's eggs and which (if not naturally controlled) may cause local extinctions of sensitive species.
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 530 lbf/in2 or 400 N/cm2) with its talons.It can also lift more than three-quarters of its body weight. That allows the bird to snatch a live sloth from tree branches, as well as other huge prey items: There are accounts of Harpies capturing and flying off with howler monkeys andsloths weighing up to 6.5 to 7.7 kg (14 to 17 lb).


Breeding

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 safeguard the habitat of this stately eagle. The bird also uses other huge trees to build its nest on, such as the Brazil nut tree. A nesting site found in the Brazilian Pantanal was built on a Cambará tree (Vochysia divergens).


Status and conservation


Sub-adult, "Panama," in Belize Zoo, Belize
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 andParaná, endangered in Rio de Janeiro, and probably extirpated in Rio Grande do Sul and Minas Gerais - the actual size of their total population in Brazil is unknown.
Globally, The Harpy Eagle is considered Near Threatened by IUCN and threatened with extinction by CITES (appendix I). The Peregrine Fund until recently considered 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 but now has accepted the Near Threatened status. The Harpy Eagle is considered critically endangered in Mexico and Central America, where it has been extirpated in most of its former range: in Mexico, it used to be found as far North as Veracruz, but today probably occurs only in Chiapas in the Selva Zoque. It is considered as Near Threatened or Vulnerable in most of the South American portion of its range: at the Southern extreme of its range, in Argentina, it's found only in the Parana Valley forests at the province of Misiones.It has disappeared from El Salvador, and almost so from Costa Rica.


National initiatives


Adult at São Paulo Zoo, Brazil

Adult in Belize
Various initiatives for restoration of the species are currently afoot in various countries: Since 2002, Peregrine Fund initiated a conservation and research program for the Harpy Eagle in the Darién Province, Panama. A similar—and grander, given the dimensions of the countries involved—research project is currently occurring in Brazil, 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 volunteers from local communities. A Harpy Eagle chick has been fitted with a radio transmitter that allows it to be tracked for more than three years via a satellite signal sent to INPE (Brazilian National Institute for Space Research).Also, a photographic recording of a nest site in the Carajás National Forest is presently being made by the photographer for the Brazilian edition of National Geographic Magazine João Marcos Rosa.
In Belize, there exists The Belize Harpy Eagle Restoration Project. It began in 2003 with the collaboration of Sharon Matola, Founder & Director of The Belize Zoo and The Peregrine Fund. The goal of this project was the reestablishment of the Harpy Eagle within Belize. The population of the eagle declined as a result of forest fragmentation, shooting, and nest destruction, resulting in near extirpation of the species. Captive bred Harpy Eagles were released in the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area in Belize, chosen for its quality forest habitat and linkages with Guatemala and Mexico. Habitat linkage with Guatemala and Mexico were important for conservation of quality habitat and the Harpy Eagle on a regional level. As of November 2009, fourteen Harpy Eagles have been released and are monitored by the Peregrine Fund, through satellite telemetry.
In January 2009, a chick from the all but extirpated 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.
In December 2009, a 15th Harpy Eagle was released into the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Areain Belize. The release was set to tie in with the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009, inCopenhagen. The 15th eagle, nicknamed "Hope," by the Peregrine officials in Panama, was the "poster child" for forest conservation in Belize, a developing country, and the importance of these activities in relation to Global Warming and Climate Change. The event received coverage from Belize's major media entities, and was supported and attended by the U.S. Ambassador to Belize, Vinai Thummalapally, and British High Commissioner to Belize, Pat Ashworth. 
In Colombia, as of 2007, a couple of Harpies composed of an adult male and a subadult female confiscated from wildlife trafficking were restored to the wild and monitored in Paramillo National Park in Córdoba, another couple being kept in captivity at a research center for breeding and eventual release. A monitoring effort with the help of volunteers from local Native American communities is also afoot inEcuador, including the joint sponsorship of various Spanish universities—this effort being similar to another one going on since 1996 inPeru, centered around a Native Community in the Tambopata ProvinceMadre de Dios Region.Another monitoring project, begun in 1992, was operating as of 2005 in the state of BolívarVenezuela.


Popular culture


Harpy Eagle in flight.