Crested Eagle
Morphnus guianensis

f13 @ 1/200s, ISO:1600, Nikon D3S w 500mm and 1.7X teleconverter


"Crested Eagle," Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The crested eagle is a large Neotropical eagle. The crested eagle has a large head, an effect enhanced by the often extended feather crest of its name. It has bare legs, with a sizable tarsus length of 10.3 to 11.2 cm (4.1 to 4.4 in). The tail is fairly long, measuring 34 to 43 cm (13 to 17 in) in length. The wings are quite short for the eagle's size but are broad and rounded. Forest-dwelling raptors often have a relatively small wingspan in order to enable movement within the dense, twisted forest environments. The crested eagle may avoid direct competition with the harpy eagle by taking generally smaller prey. Birds may comprise a larger portion of the diet for crested than they do for harpys.The crested eagle is almost always observed singly or in pairs. The breeding season is from March–April (the borderline between the dry season and the wet season in the neotropics) onwards. The nest is often huge but has a shallow cup and is typically in the main fork of a large tree, often concealed near the canopy in greenery. No further details are known of the breeding or brooding behavior of the species.
Darien Province, Panama
 
03/02/2017