The harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) is a neotropical species of eagle, and they have talons bigger than a Grizzly bear’s claw. The harpy eagle is the national bird of Panama and is symbolize on the coat of arms of Panama. Harpy Eagle is also called with different names: The American harpy eagle, Brazilian harpy eagle, Papuan eagle, New Guinea harpy eagle, and Papuan harpy eagle. People said that the harpy Eagle have a body like a vulture and the face of a woman. When you look at its expressive face and large wingspan once, most time, you will be afraid of that. It has slate-black feathers on the upper side of the harpy eagle, and its underside appears chiefly in white. Harpy Eagle can consider as a crowned bird, and it has a double crest. Their head is pale grey, and the upper side of the tail is black with three gray bands, when the underside of it is black with three white bands. The iris of this enormous bird is gray or brown or red, and the tarsi and toes are yellow. They can reach up to 3 feet 5 inches in height, with an overall wingspan of up to 7 feet 4 inches. Harpy Eagles usually inhabit tropical lowland rainforests in the upper canopy layer from Mexico to Brazil and northern Argentina. The males are much smaller than females for quick comparison. The average weight of adult males reached 4.4 to 4.8 kg, and an average of adult females reached 7.35 to 8.3 kg. Harpy Eagle is largely silent away from the nest. The adults have a penetrating, weak, melancholy scream. The male’s call describes as “whispy screaming or wailing”. Their females’ calls are similar to male’s voices, but it creates lower-pitched than male’s.

Harpy adults take the top of a food chain. Their main prey consists of tree-dwelling mammals, and mainly they focus on sloths and monkeys. It is recorded that they take domestic livestock, including chickens, lambs, goats, and young pigs. But it is infrequent under normal circumstances. Harpy Eagles most commonly use perch-hunting. In here, they scan for prey activity while briefly perched between short flights from tree to tree. They are capable of flying up to 50 miles per hour. They do not appear with pairs, and they are believed to mate for life.

Unfortunately, harpy eagles lose their shelters due to the expansion of logging, cattle ranching, agriculture, and prospecting. Now they are becoming a rare site across Latin America as rainforest deforestation diminishes their habitat. However, Harpy eagle has global attention, and it is considered near threatened by IUCN and threatened with extinction by CITES . This giant bird supports the natural balance of the ecosystem. 

More Harpy Eagle Facts from Beauty of Planet world

• The first written record of the harpy eagle is in Carl Linnaeus’ 1758 Systema Naturae. He describes the bird as the Vultur harpyja, named after the Greek mythological spirit that had the body of an eagle and the face of a human. This is why many people think the bird is only a myth.
• Harpy eagles are the rainforest’s largest and most powerful bird.
• Harpy eagles and the African crowned eagles claim the title of the world’s strongest eagle.
• They are strong enough to crush bones with their talons. (They can apply over 110 pounds of pressure.)
• Harpy eagle nests are sparingly spaced out over large amounts of rainforest and well hidden up in the trees’ huge canopies. This makes them extremely hard to find and study.
• Their huge, durable nests made from sticks measure around 1.2 meters (3.9 feet) deep and 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) wide.
• Panama officially adopted the harpy eagle as its national bird.
• Although they’re birds of prey, there are some uncommon cases where harpy eagles have been attacked and eaten by ocelots and jaguars.
• Harpy eagles are known to “steal” livestock from commercial businesses, such as chicken, lamb, goats, and even piglets.
• Similar to an owl, harpy eagles move their facial feathers in order to direct sound waves to their ears and improve hearing.
• The harpy eagle was the inspiration behind the design of Fawkes the Phoenix (Dumbledore’s animal companion) in the Harry Potter film series.