Harpy eagles are amazing, powerful birds of prey! In this post, you’ll learn all about these fascinating birds of Ecuador.

Harpy Eagle Facts

The Amazon is full of amazing birds, plants, and animals. But the harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) definitely stands out as the biggest and strongest of the rainforest’s raptors!

They are such beautiful birds, and their power is clear to see. If you see one on your trip to Ecuador, you won’t soon forget it.  Read our post to learn more about these fantastic birds of prey!

Giant birds!

Harpy eagles are huge! As mentioned earlier, they are the biggest raptors in the rainforest. They show sexual dimorphism, which means a difference in size between males and females.

Watch on YouTube

Females weigh up to 20 lbs, and males weigh up to 10 lbs. They are 3.6 ft long and have a wingspan of 7.4 ft! Their huge talons are 5 inches long, bigger than grizzly bear claws.

Fully carnivorous

Harpy eagles eat pretty much any Amazon animal it can carry off, including monkeys, armadillos, agoutis, and sloths.

Once they’ve caught their prey they normally carry it to the treetops to eat it. If they’ve caught something a little too big though, they’ll eat it on a fallen tree trunk or somewhere similar.

Watch on YouTube

They will even store their prey in the trees and eat it for a few days in a row.

Both mom and dad care for their chicks

Harpy eagles normally lay 2 white eggs in a 5 ft nest, with one chick surviving to adulthood. The eggs take around 50 days to hatch and they fledge at 4 to 6 months.

The female will incubate the eggs and then look after the chick while the male keeps them fed every 2 or 3 days.

The young eagles stay with mom and dad for around 2 years learning how to do all things harpy.

Because the parents are charged with caring for the young for those 2 years, they only mate at the turn of 2 or 3 years. This mating season normally falls between April-November but can happen anytime.

They are monogamous

That’s right, harpy eagles are known to mate for life. Isn’t that sweet?

Beautiful feathers

Young harpies are white and very light gray, they won’t obtain their adult colors until age 3.

Adults have an ashy-grey head with a dark black, hooked beak and yellow irises. They have charcoal colored wings, tail, and collar area. They have a light grey/white breast and underparts with some darker grey stripes. They’re feet are a light yellow color with dark grey talons.

Range

The harpy eagle is found in Mexico, Central America, and northern South America (including Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, and Venezuela), as far south as Argentina. They’re most concentrated in Brazil, and very limited in Mexico and Central America, unfortunately.

Harpies are classed as “near threatened,” due mostly to habitat loss and deforestation. You can see them in Ecuador’s Amazon (such as Yasuni National Park), if you have a keen eye.

Long lifespans

Harpy eagles are known to live for up to 35 years in the wild.

Fast flyers

If they need to, harpies can fly at speeds of 50 miles per hour when chasing prey. I certainly wouldn’t want to see this beautiful beast speeding at me with outstretched and flexing talons! Fortunately, harpies don’t carry off tourists.

Your Turn

We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about these kings of the birds in Ecuador’s Amazon! What do you Ecuador wildlife do you most want to see? Let us know in the comments!