By Amanda Wilson
Guyana Chronicle
May 6, 2001

The eagle family at the zoo was extended recently when two families donated three Harpy Eagles to the Guyana Zoological Park on Vlissengen Road.

`Kenu' and two other eagles which have not yet been named, were donated to the zoo in March and April, bringing the Harpy Eagle population there to seven.

The Amsterdam family of Linden handed over Kenu to the zoo on March 7. The family discovered the grey and black eight-month old bird in a forested area in Wisrock after loggers chopped down the tree in which he was nesting.

Officials at the zoo said Kenu cannot fly properly and that he and the two other birds are housed in cages at the front of the zoo.

Another family donated the other two birds.

Harpy Eagles are among the world's most powerful and spectacular birds on the endangered species list.

Harpy Eagles or `Harpia Harpyja' can be found in the tropical rain forest of equatorial central and South America and also along river banks.

A Guide to the Birds of Columbia describes the Harpy Eagle as "the world's most powerful bird of prey" which may sometimes be confused with the Crested Eagle.

The publication added that the bird has broad and rounded wings and a long tail, which is approximately four feet from its crest to the tip of the tail.

According to information from Conservation International Guyana in Queenstown, Georgetown, the birds feed on monkeys, deer, sloths and large birds, and have a life span of more than 50 years.

At 20 pounds, the female weighs almost twice as much as the male, but the male is more agile and flies faster.

Zoo Veterinarian, Mr. Lancelot Dowridge, in an interview with the chronicle said `Hector' was the first eagle to be housed at the Zoo in 1952.

According to Dowridge, The facility was opened on New Year's Day 1952. Hector died that same year and was replaced by a pair of female birds who are 49 years old.

He said the Zoo underwent a lot of changes over the years, but throughout that time, Harpy Eagles were always a part of the facility.

He added that because the birds are endangered here, they cannot be sold if captured. Persons should contact the Zoo or agencies such as Conservation International and Iwokrama Rain Forest Programme in Bel Air, he stressed.

With a slow reproductive cycle, the females produce one to two white eggs in mid-June here, but in most cases, only one survives during the eight-week incubation period.

The parents bring food every two to three days, on average, and feed their babies up to 18 months.

The young eagles fly by five month and parents will gradually provide less food, forcing the young bird to fend for itself.

Research on the eagle was done here in 1995 in the Kanuku Region, by Neil Rettig, a naturalist and film-maker attached to one of the world's best magazine and film companies on wild life, `National Geographic Explorer'.

Rettig, who has two Emmys among his many awards, visited the Kanuku Region where he observed several eagles and wrote an extensive report on their way of life. That report was published in the February 1995 issue of the magazine.

In his article, Rettig explained that the bird was named the Harpy Eagle because early explorers in South America were amazed when they saw how it seized and lifted monkeys and sloths high into the forest canopy.

"They called them Harpies for the predatory monsters - half woman, half bird - a Greek Mythology," his article said.

Harpy Eagles in Guyana favour towering silk cotton trees and usually build nests 90 to 130 feet up in the Kanuku Region, which, in 1995, still harboured one of the greatest concentrates of eagles, according to Rettig.

Rettig noted that eagles become sexually active between ages four to five years.

Iwokrama Senior Wildlife Biologist, Mr. Graham Watkins, explained that because the birds are scattered across the Kanuku Region, it is very difficult to determine their population here.

The Harpy eagle, according to the Conservation International material, is vital to the wild life cycle and should be protected as to avoid extinction.

Over the years, several organisations, including the Peregrine Fund's Harpy Eagle Conservation Programme, have done extensive research to learn more about the winged creatures.

The Peregrine Fund World Center for Birds of Prey is dedicated to conservation of birds of prey and the environment they live in.