Yes - I had heard of the Harpy Eagle - but to be frank, I though they were extinct. I used to know someone who was a licensed eagle conservator. He kept several birds of prey – a bald eagle being one. He was quite well informed regarding almost every winged predator you could imagine. I learned of the Harpy Eagle from him. Cool picture. Wouldn’t it be marvelous to see one in real life?
Wow. This article reminded me of some of my converations in the 60's.
Amazing!
Yes, I do recognize the bird, lol...I probably shouldn't admit that...
I wonder how many books you'd have gone through in the library to find out the same information you Googled?
alan
Well, you should come to Kansas. We have all sorts of even stranger creatures about.
What I'd like to know is whether the harpy of myth are named for these birds, or these birds named for the mythological creature. But harpy eagles do look almost exactly like the myth.
If you haven't read The Last Unicorn, you give it a try. I pretty much love everything Peter Beagle has written.
Hey RD ~ Thanks for the natual history lesson. Very enjoyable!
You're right! The harpy eagle looks just like Faulkes the phoenix!
I sure wish we had giant sloths again.
Ha! I do the same thing... one click leads to another and before you know it you've lost several hours. 
One good thing about TV:
The Animal Planet channel!
The Discovery Channel!
TFLS-- This is one bird I might be slightly intimidated by. It looks so fierce. But yes, I would love to see one.
Dave-- Were you talking about Harpys in the 60s? 
alan-- It is amazing how much information is right at the click of our fingers. If I had to run out to the library every time I wanted an answer to something, well, I wouldn't have the answer.
pablo-- Tell me more. What strange creatures do you have there?
CCorax-- I think the bird is named for the mythical creatures:
The scientific and common names come from the Greek word, harpe, referring to a bird of prey mentioned by Aristotle, Pliny, and other Greek scholars, and may be from the mythological harpies who were winged creatures with sharp claws, a woman’s face, and a vulture’s body.
seavu-- Glad to do it. I love when I find something that I've never seen before. This Harpy really surprised me.
Wayne-- It would be great if there were giant sloths here. They are such interesting creatures. Can you imagine hanging upside down all day long? And just eating whenever you want to with little to no exertion? Looking like a coconut as a defense? They are remarkably weird.
Rurality-- It's like being at our own private library, right? We're doing research that just happens to be fun.
Great natural history lesson to start the morning. I remember being fascinating as a kid, watching Marlin Perkins' program "Zoo Parade", where sloths were one of the big Wowie factors. I thought the head of the harpy eagle looks like a smaller bird, and the body somewhat disguised as a perch in your first photo - I wonder if they attract small birds or other prey by looking like a smaller bird sitting on a big post? maybe it is just my imagination....
Very cool sloths and Harpy pics!
the Harpy Eagle is on my list of must see birds in the wild, and if you want to google some more there is a Crested Caracara right now in Corvallis Oregon, a long way from home and a very good bird!
Good God, I'm a sloth.
Except for that upside down part...
What an impressive looking eagle. I remembered reading a book where a woman was referred to as a harpy. I think it was in some novel about the crumbling south, but here's another one ...
"What a little harpy that woman from Hampshire is, Clump," Squills remarked, "that has seized upon old Tilly Crawley.
Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray http://www.bartleby.com/305/
Don't harpies scream hideously and drive the hearer mad too??? Remember that from a gradeschool mythology book.
Great post.
(long time 'lurker'. first time poster)
giving birth hanging from a limb intrigues me....what becomes of the newborn sloth? sounds like a dangerous activity. and, just how slothful, i wonder, can a labouring sloth be?
kim-- the harpy is a very large bird. The largest eagle in central and south America. So, maybe it was just the way the photograph was shot that made it look small-ish.
Dawn-- I googled Crested Caracara Corvallis and saw a notice about the sighting. Wow. Hope you get to see that. Huitzil of Stone Bridge had a post a little while back about a Caracara he saw in Texas. Quite a bird!
kathyr-- I was thinking the same thing about myself. The laziest mammal, doesn't want to move too much and expend energy. Man, that's me in a coconut shell!
IGallopOn-- Harpy's are hideous mythical creatures. It's interesting that this eagle is called a harpy, while it is fierce and bizarre looking, I wouldn't call it hideous.
Adagio-- Welcome and thanks so much for commenting. New born sloths hang on to their mother's fur right away (like primates). Sometimes the babies fall off, and moms don't always go down to retrieve it. I thought it was intriguing that sloths don't move too much to even give birth. Quite an animal.
This cracked me up! http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp...s&
date=20060315
When I was a kid, I used to spend hours at the library. In my WILDEST dreams I could never have imagined Google, Wikipedia, the Visual Thesaurus, and "Leap blogging". I have to take care not to ignore the "real world" as I get lost following my curiosity on the "internets".
How have I lived this long without ever knowing about the amazing harpy eagle? Something about it reminds me of a turkey--though I don't think I'd want to have one for Thanksgiving. Thanks for the introduction.
Didn't have a clue about either one, so thanks for the heads up. I hope I don't ever antagonize the Harpy Eagle. And, I am so envious of the sloth's sleep habits. I do well to get 4 hours a night. 
Ain't Google grand?!
I thought I wanted to come back as a cat, I've changed my mind. I'll go with sloth. They seem to have the perfect act there. Thanks for all the info on both critters.
I might have had more children if I could have just hung out while they were born!
RD, are you sure you don't smoke pot? LOL.
soccermom-- That's a very funny cartoon. I wanted google even before there was such a thing. I was always hungry for information, and dreamed of having it at my fingertips.
patry-- Isn't it an amazing looking creature? I was so surprised when I saw that first photo. How crazy that sometimes, I think I've seen it all already! This reminds me of how wrong I am.
sky-- Ah, an awake sister of the night. If I've slept four hours straight I feel like I've slept through the night. It's rare, but it happens.
Suzanne-- And to think that sloth actually has a negative connotation, one of the deadly sins. Hard to imagine, isn't it?
soccermom-- That's very funny. I think that ease of birth must have something to do with having only half the amount of muscle tissue as mammals their size.
TD-- Haven't smoked pot in nearly 35 years. Stopped when I was 19, but flashbacks do keep me tuned in, and then there's always second hand smoke!
wonderful post, RD! the harpy eagle looks like something pasted-together, maybe a "magical creature" art project. [at least to me.]
soccer mom, you must have read encyclopedias, too. maybe even spent hours strolling through the card index at the library...
. . . and National Geographics and Scientific American and Arizona magazine and the local history references . . .
Now it's almost all at our fingertips . . . and, best of all, we get to share with friends!
Yes, I knew about harpy eagles, but have never seen one. They (and these photos) are amazing -- but I really want to talk about sloths. Somewhere in Chris Clarke's archives there is a picture of a box full of baby sloths and you MUST see it! Maybe he can remember when and where.
yes, fawkes was designed agfter the harpy eagle, but also the scarlet macaw .. have you noticed the strong similarities between the colors and patterns of those colors between a macaw and fawkes?
I'm a sloth, sometimes. That harpy eagle is a funny looking bird.
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