What if birds had arms (and accents)? (via @curlykidlife)

Found in Central and South America

Hear Their Song

Meet the national bird of Panama! Harpy Eagles have severe stares and feathers on their heads that can dramatically stand at attention, looking a bit like Queen Elizabeth’s collar. (They remind us of Sam the Eagle, the muppet!)

Harpy Eagles mate for life and have one or two chicks every two to four years, making for a slower breeding process. Unfortunately, they’re rare in the wild and getting rarer. These endangered birds have no natural predators, but because they are unafraid of humans they are often easy prey for hunters.

These big birds are the largest raptor in the Americas, with a 6.5-foot wingspan. They’re so big that they hunt monkeys and sloths! Their rear talons are 4-5 inches long, the same size as a grizzly bear’s. Long story short: you do not want to mess with these guys.

Fun fact: Harpy Eagles are the inspiration behind Fawkes the Phoenix in the Harry Potter series.

Give a Hoot

Birding bits you should know about this week

🦅 Watch
Beware the Harpy!
The Harpy Eagle is so big, it hunts monkeys!

🥇 Learn
A South Texan’s Wild, Life-affirming Quest to Break a National Birding Record
Texas’ Tiffany Kersten had the biggest Big Year ever!

🦜 Look
Kakapo: Flightless Parrot
Meet the Kakapo, the world’s heaviest—and perhaps most awkward—flightless parrot. (Plus enjoy Benedict Cumberbatch’s narration.)

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Skirting the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,)

Skyward in air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance of the eagles,

The rushing amorous contact high in space together,

The clinching interlocking claws, a living, fierce, gyrating wheel,

Four beating wings, two beaks, a swirling mass tight grappling,

In tumbling turning clustering loops, straight downward falling,

Till o’er the river pois’d, the twain yet one, a moment’s lull,

A motionless still balance in the air, then parting, talons loosing,

Upward again on slow-firm pinions slanting, their separate diverse flight,

She hers, he his, pursuing.

– “The Dalliance of the Eagles” by Walt Whitman

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