The Harpy Eagle

The Harpy Eagle

What is a Harpy Eagle?

harpy eagle is a large bird of prey. It is one of the world’s heaviest and most powerful birds. Imagine going a week without food! The harpy eagle has the ability to do this. Like many birds of prey, the harpy eagle is a patient hunter and can wait quietly in a tree before attacking prey.

The harpy eagle is a carnivore, which means it only eats meat. The large size of this bird allows it to easily attack and kill opossums, iguanas, and small deer, as well as tree-dwelling mammals such as monkeys and sloths.

Like all birds of prey, harpy eagles have sharp talons used for catching food.
Harpy Eagle Claws

What Do They Look Like?

Harpy eagles have grey feathers covering their wings, back, and head. They have a distinctive collar of black feathers around their neck, and their chests are white. Their legs are white with black stripes, and they can raise the feathers on their head when they feel threatened, similar to the way a cat raises its fur.

They are 35-41 inches tall. Females can be twice as big as their male counterparts, weighing up to 20 pounds, while a heavy male is around 10 pounds. While they might differ in size, males and females have the same color patterns, unlike males and females of other bird species.

Harpy eagles can tuft the hair on their heads when they feel threatened.
Harpy eagle feather tufts

Where Do Harpy Eagles Live?

Harpy eagles live in the rainforests of Central and South America from Southern Mexico to northern Argentina. The early explorers to the rainforests of this area named the bird Harpyja, from Greek mythology, meaning half-woman, half-bird.

In Brazil, harpy eagles are called Royal Hawks, and they are also known as American harpy eagles in other parts of the world.

Because the harpy eagle eats mostly tree-dwelling animals, you can find this bird living in the canopy of the rainforest trees searching for prey and building nests.

Harpy eagles have very few predators, but they are experiencing the same loss of habitat through deforestation, poaching and hunting as other rainforest animals.

Harpy eagles live in the lower level of the rainforest rather than up in the canopy.
Harpy Eagle


The harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) is a neotropical species of eagle. It is also called the American harpy eagle to distinguish it from the Papuan eagle, which is sometimes known as the New Guinea harpy eagle or Papuan harpy eagle.[3] It is the largest and most powerful raptor found in the rainforest,[4] and among the largest extant species of eagles in the world. It usually inhabits tropical lowland rainforests in the upper (emergent) canopy layer. Destruction of its natural habitat has caused it to vanish from many parts of its former range, and it is nearly extirpated in Central America. In Brazil, the harpy eagle is also known as royal-hawk (in Portuguesegavião-real).[5]


This is The Harpy Eagle! A very big Eagle…Just so people know. This is a real Animal. It has a Beak, not a mouth. It’s not a person in a costume either!!! You may read the article about it in the comments below.


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