Here is the latest picture of our baby Black-and-chestnut Eagle (Spizaetus isidori). It continues to grow very fast. Photo: Angel de Pazo Carballo.

A different juvenile Black-and-chestnut Eagle (Spizaetus isidori) in our Rio Zunac Reserve, several years ago. Photo: Luis Recalde/EcoMinga.

Very little is known about the endangered Black-and-chestnut Eagle (Spizaetus isidori), so Fausto Recalde’s discovery of its nest in our Rio Zunac Reserve was exciting news for ornithologists. Ecuador’s Harpy Eagle project team came to visit our nest a few weeks ago, with Fausto Recalde as their guide. The ease of access to this nest makes it an especially good research opportunity, and the team asked our guards to make at least weekly observations and photos of the nest and baby. The team was led by Ruth Muñiz López, a Spanish biologist living in Ecuador. She is a famous expert on Ecuador’s giant eagles, especially the Harpy (Harpia harpyja).

Top row, left to right: Luis Astudillo, Fausto Recalde. Bottom row, left to right: Ángel de Pazo Carballo, Ruth Muñiz López with baby Breogan, and José María Gil Sánchez.

Ruth, her baby Breogan, and Fausto Recalde on the trail to the eagle nest. Photo: Angel de Pazo Carballo.

Afterwards Ruth gave our staff and interested Banos residents an interesting talk on the Harpy and Black-and-chestnut Eagles.

Ruth giving a talk to us about eagles. Photo: Lou Jost/EcoMinga.

Although the magnificent Harpy gets most of the global attention, our beautiful Black-and-chestnut Eagle is actually far more endangered globally, because it lives only in a narrow band along slopes of the northern Andes. The Harpy, in contrast, is sparsely but widely distributed throughout the lowland rain forests of Latin America, from Mexico (where it is close to extinction) to northern Argentina. The Black-and-chestnut Eagle is easier to see than the Harpy, though, because it soars often, while the Harpy spends most of its time below the canopy trying to ambush something.

Captive Harpy Eagle. Photo: Wikipedia.

Ruth told us that these big eagles can live for many years. There was a famous Harpy in a zoo in Tuxtla, Chiapas, Mexico, which had been captured as an adult and lived to be at least 48 years old. I visited that bird back in the 1980s, and it looked ancient even then. No one has any information about how old a Black-and-Chestnut Eagle can live. Perhaps we can help fill in that information by careful observations.

Oldest known Harpy Eagle. Tuxtla zoo, Chiapas, Mexico, 1985. This bird had been shot as an adult by a hunter. Its broken right wing is visible in my photo. It was given to naturalist and zoo director Miguel Alvarez del Toro, and stayed alive in this zoo for many years. It finally died in 1990. I’ve put more of my photos of this bird at the bottom of this post, since there do not appear to be any other photos of it on the internet. Photo: Lou Jost.

The Harpy team spends a lot of time rescuing and rehabilitating captive or injured Harpies, and Ruth told us about some of those experiences during her talk. For example, someone captured a baby Harpy Eagle by cutting down its nest tree. Ruth and her team heard about it and went to visit. They somehow convinced the person to return the eagle to the wild. They then built an artificial nest in the jungle near the original fallen nest tree, and the person who had captured the eagle placed it in the new nest. Even though three months had past, the adult returned, bringing food to the baby! The excited baby fluttered around so much that it fell out of the nest. But eventually everything went well and the baby fledged.

Captive Harpy Eagle. Photo: Lou Jost/EcoMinga.

Our guards were impressed by Ruth’s falconry work, keeping Quito’s new airport free of collision-prone birds. They had seen her on TV using tame raptors (birds that, for one reason or another, were too tame to release into the wild) to chase off the other birds, and they imagined it was from some far-away place.

Ruth at the Quito airport keeping the skies safe for airplanes. Photo: L. Astudillo.

Ruth is trying to get a satellite transmitter to track our young bird after it leaves the nest. She and her team have experience with this, and they assure me that there is no danger to the young bird. They’ve also connected us with a photographer who would like to document the nest. Another photographer, Mark Wilson, is writing a book on the large eagles of the world and will also be coming to photograph it this month. Knowledge is a key to conservation, and we hope to cautiously take advantage of this opportunity to learn as much as we can about our most spectacular and most endangered bird.

Lou Jost

Earlier posts on the Black-and-chestnut (or Andean) Eagle, Spizaetus isidori:

Monkey killer: Black-and-chestnut Eagle (Spizaetus isidori)

Black-and-chestnut Eagle nest discovered here at last!!!!!!!!!!

Better views of our Black-and-chestnut Eagle nest

Black-and-chestnut Eagle (Spizaetus isidori) again, in a different reserve

Our baby Black-and-chestnut Eagle is growing up fast!

Rio Zunac update: predator and prey

More photos of the oldest known Harpy Eagle:

Oldest known Harpy Eagle. Tuxtla zoo, Chiapas, Mexico, 1985. Photo: Lou Jost.

Oldest known Harpy Eagle. Tuxtla zoo, Chiapas, Mexico, 1985. Photo: Lou Jost.

Oldest known Harpy Eagle. Tuxtla zoo, Chiapas, Mexico, 1985. Photo: Lou Jost.

Posteriormente, Ruth dio a nuestro personal y a los residentes interesados de Baños una charla interesante sobre las Águilas Arpía y Andina.

IMG – Ruth dándonos una charla sobre águilas. Fotografía: Lou Jost / EcoMinga.

Aunque la magnífica harpía recibe la mayor parte de la atención mundial, nuestra hermosa Águila andina está en realidad mucho más amenazada a nivel mundial, porque solo vive en una banda estrecha a lo largo de las laderas de los Andes del Norte. El águila harpía, en contraste, es escasa pero ampliamente distribuida a lo largo de las selvas tropicales de las tierras bajas de América Latina, desde México (donde está cerca de la extinción) a Argentina del norte. Sin embargo, el águila andina (Black and Chestnut Eagle) es más fácil de ver que la arpía, debido a que vuela a menudo, mientras que la harpía pasa la mayor parte del tiempo debajo del dosel tratando de tender una emboscada a algo.