Tuesday, January 6, 2009

A.O.T.D. (Animal of the Day) The Harpy Eagle

Here's some quick studies I did of the Harpy Eagle. These birds are beautiful and HUGE. They're considered the largest predatory bird in the world, with a wing span up to 7 feet and talons equal to that of bear claws. Their range is from Southern Mexico to the rain forests of Argentina, AND they're the national bird of Panama. The name comes from Harpyja, the predatory half-woman, half-bird monster of Greek mythology. They expand out their facial and head feather to form a disc shape in order to focus in sounds waves to improve hearing, which is similar to what owls do. It's diet includes tree animals such as sloths, monkeys, and other birds.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the studies! Great blog!
Thanks for sharing.
by the way, I am looking for small cast off Harpy feathers to decorate a native pipe I have.
Any info to treewise@juno.com

Anonymous said...

Absolutely beautiful! Hope I can learn from your examples one day. Thanks for posting.