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Harpy eagle size3/19/2023 Though the released birds ranged far afield - one across nearly the breadth of Guatemala - they weren’t out of the range of guns: Five were shot. Little better can be expected in Belize, where The Peregrine Fund released 14 captive-bred birds between 20. A handful of sightings dot the map in Honduras and Nicaragua in general, eBird data reflects the paucity of Harpies in Central America. The bird has hardly been seen for decades in Mexico, Guatemala, or El Salvador. In some places, Indigenous lands may be their last stronghold in a range that’s swiftly being reduced. Dubbed “Wolves of the Air” in one documentary, their survival is as perilous as that of their canine namesake. The Harpy’s status across its historic range - from southern Mexico across the Central American isthmus and as far south as northern Argentina - is dubious at best. Photo by Pete Oxford/Minden Pictures Will the Air Wolf Survive? Alexander Blanco descends from a kapok tree in Ecuador with a seven-month-old fledgling Harpy Eagle. In a rather miraculous turn of events, the chick that survived a 100-foot fall and was nearly stolen away may soon be rearing her own nestling. “When we approached the blind or departed from it, the female attacked dozens of times,” he reported. During a 2010 nest-camera placement in Venezuela, for example, veteran documentary climber James Aldred - in full riot gear, helmet, and flak jacket - was pummeled in the kidneys, head, and neck and was left dazed and bleeding.Īward-winning cinematographer Neil Rettig made the first pioneering films of a Harpy’s nesting tree in Guyana in the 1970s. Although Harpies don’t prey on people, they don’t hesitate to unleash their fury on those who approach a nest. So, humans with rifles pose as much of a menace as those with chainsaws. Harpy pairs are slow to reproduce, raising a single chick every two to three years. Betraying the traditional non-emotion of academia, Alvarez’s rage practically jumps off the page: “I could not think of any valid scientific reason for a biologist to be collecting Harpy Eagles in the 1980s,” he wrote. Two Caracas museums hired to do environmental studies for a bauxite mine also shot and killed “specimens” in that era. Eduardo Alvarez, who monitored the species over six years for his 1996 doctoral thesis at the University of Florida before founding the Harpy protection group Earth Matters, reported at least seven shootings during his study in eastern Venezuela, including one bird presented to him by a farmer who kept the “trophy” in a refrigerator for 10 years, hopeful of its value. Noted ornithologist Helmut Sick wrote in Birds in Brazil, that the Harpy had long been a “prized trophy” for Indigenous people and colonizers. It’s a cipher one researcher who has studied the bird for three decades said, “It’s very difficult to observe Harpies, let alone find their nests.” In fact, one bird, tracked to a specific tree in Belize by its radio collar, still eluded a team of researchers.ĭespite human admiration for the eagle, the bird has regularly been shot with rifles, even by scientists. The bird is a silent apex predator that glides through the canopy like a stealth drone and swiftly dispatches lingering monkeys and sloths (among 40 other species) with talons as long and lethal as a grizzly bear’s. The largest raptor in the Americas and one of the world’s largest eagle species, it can measure as long as 3.5 feet and weigh up to 20 pounds. The Ya¸nomamö and Pemón of Venezuela simply called it Wajari: goddess of the wind. The Huaorani of Ecuador’s Amazon consider themselves descendants of the jaguar and Harpy. Across the Americas, the Harpy has been venerated as a god by Mexico’s Olmec people and the Chavín of Peru. The Harpy Eagle - named for the half-human, half-bird wind spirits of Greek mythology who bore evil-doers to just punishment - is a massive and awe-inspiring bird that has fascinated humans since long before European arrival. Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Print this Article Share to Email
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