Guernsey Press

Harpy meals

I HAVE just seen my first harpy eagle, the renowned 'flying wolf' of New World tropical rainforests.It is a truly awesome bird, weighing up to 9kg (20lb) and capable of taking large monkeys - even small pigs and deer.

Published

I HAVE just seen my first harpy eagle, the renowned 'flying wolf' of New World tropical rainforests.It is a truly awesome bird, weighing up to 9kg (20lb) and capable of taking large monkeys - even small pigs and deer.

It has three deadly weapons: its wings, talons and beak.

Harpy eagles have a wingspan of two metres but the wings are broad and rounded to give amazing speed and manoeuvrability through the treetops and great lifting power once they have made a kill. Indeed, the prey is often so large that adult harpy eagles dismember it and take it back to their chick in pieces weighing up to 3kg (6.5lb).

Their talons are also massive, quite capable of piercing the brain or heart of unfortunate victims, causing instant death.

And the beak is the equivalent of a chef's set of kitchen knives, able to slice through animal fur and sinew yet delicate enough to feed small pieces of meat to a newly-hatched chick.

Harpy eagles are difficult to find and see. They rarely fly above the canopy and never soar like most eagles.

They hunt by perching and listening for the movement of monkeys, large birds such as curassows or chachalacas, and occasionally agoutis, young brocket deer or peccary piglets on the jungle floor.

Often the prey is a sloth or a sunbathing iguana, both of which sit out in the tops of trees early in the morning, sunning themselves to warm up - a time harpy eagles often hunt.

Once prey is located, the attack is launched at high speed and with great precision, but silently as they swerve around treetops, through branches and sticks, and under the highest canopy to strike their prey.

Other members of the troop, flock or herd scream with fear as the deed is executed but it is in vain and too late. A harpy eagle has struck.

They are most commonly seen crossing rivers or clearings in the jungle, a matter of luck or perseverance. I had neither on a recent visit to Guyana on the northern coast of South America.

Instead, I went with an Amerindian guide into the rainforest of Iwokrama and trekked for an hour to reach a vast tree in which the stick and leaf nest of a harpy eagle had been located.

We crossed a river and a stream using fallen trees as bridges (with two long sticks each for balance), crawling under and climbing over trunks of forest giants that had crashed down across the trail.

Screaming pihas (dull-looking birds whose cries are the backing for every Tarzan film I have ever seen - even those set in Africa) shouted as we passed their communal singing areas.

Mosquitoes followed us, waiting for our rest stops to launch attacks.

My guide, Gary Sway, had done this before and held a light stick in front of him, waving it about occasionally. This was to remove the spiders' webs and guy-lines which otherwise would have draped across our faces, bringing the arachnids that spun them crashing down onto us. One does not want to be bitten by some of these creatures.

Eventually we reached the enormous tree, which rose at least 60 metres into the canopy and on which the nest had been built. In it was an almost fully-grown chick with serious attitude.

It was at least 100ft above the ground and stared down at us with contempt and no fear.

We took a while trying to find a spot where the eaglet could be studied through a telescope, but every time this was achieved the youngster went walkabout across the vast nest.

Finally, the best angle was achieved and we settled down to watch.

This was the offspring of a top predator, the flying equivalent of a jaguar, polar bear or orca. And it would not be long before this individual would join its kin to become a flying wolf, judging from the way it was eating the limb of something left by a parent.

Grey-backed and white headed, it had the plumes that are sported by adult birds, except these were white - fully mature, they will become black.

I realised after some time that there was a man-made platform much higher in the tree.

This had been constructed between chicks (I visited the same tree in 2008, but the chick that year had fledged) and a film crew had used it to record egg-laying, hatching and the early weeks of this chick's life.

'Rather them than me,' I commented. 'Any bird capable of taking a red howler monkey would be quite able to launch an attack on someone climbing around in "its tree".' (Photographer Eric Hosking lost an eye when attacked by an owl a quarter of the size of a harpy eagle.)

Gary agreed and said that great care had been taken getting onto and off the platform.

Harpy eagles take at least nine months to raise their single youngster, which stays within 100 metres of the nest for at least 12 months, presumably being fed by the parents.

Understandably, they do not breed during that year and I did not visit the tree on my tour last year as a result.

They are becoming increasingly rare. Deforestation between southern Mexico and northern Argentina has reduced their numbers. Each pair needs a huge territory and these are diminishing due to logging.

Harpy eagles are said to be bold in the presence of humans, making them irresistible targets for hunters.

Happily, eco-tourists like my group who stay in Gary's village of Surama and then at the Iwokrama research station are a much better source of income and the birds are being protected by the people who once hunted them.From deer to sloths and monkeys to iguanas, harpy eagles are certainly built for the kill. Deforestation means the beautiful birds are becoming increasingly rare - but there's hope for these feathered giants, as Tim Earl discovers on a trip to South America, where he saw his firstHarpy meals

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.