Trying to find harpy eagles
Panama ranks as the most effective birdwatching spots on the planet and lots of uncommon species thrive on this tropical isthmus. However I used to be drawn to go to the slender strip of land linking South and Central America by one of many world’s largest and most opulent birds of prey: the harpy eagle.
Panama’s nationwide fowl
The harpy eagle is the nationwide fowl of Panama and has been on my bucket listing for a while. Named after the harpies of Greek mythology, grotesque ladies with the our bodies of birds, this gigantic eagle is essentially the most highly effective raptor on earth and its rear talons can measure 5 inches – larger than the claws of a grizzly bear.
A protracted journey to seek for harpy eagles
To see it, I travelled from the UK to the Darién rainforest the place I used to be a visitor of Cover Camp. This eco-lodge is situated on the fringe of this dense jungle and I had had been advised that the guides there knew the place there was a nest with a harpy eagle chick on it.
After my lengthy journey I used to be wanting to search for it immediately, however I couldn’t assist however be distracted by the excitement of wildlife within the camp. Kind the very high of the tree cover proper to the bottom, the place teemed with brightly colored birds and unique animals.
Tourism is important to Panama’s economic system and the homeowners of Cover Camp have been eager to point out off the sheer number of wildlife this area has to supply. Hummingbirds flashed on fowl feeders neglected to draw them and troops of monkeys dashed about snatching up bananas from feeding stations. I noticed a motion by the dense undergrowth and moments later a band of white-nosed coatis appeared, their stripey tails held aloft as they foraged.
Then some white-faced capuchin monkeys got here to the feeding space. I watched one seize as many bananas because it might and scurry away with one in its mouth, one in its fingers and one tucked beneath its armpit. Additional up within the bushes on an extended horizontal department have been a gaggle of Geoffroy’s tamarins. Their high-pitched calls gave their location away they groomed each other in flip. In the meantime all about have been extra brightly colored birds than my mind might absorb.
Journey to the Darien Hole
On my second day we got down to attempt to see the harpy eagle. We had a 40-minute drive down the Pan American Freeway. This 30,000 km community of roads take you proper throughout the Americas, from the very high of Alaska to Tierra del Fuego on the very tip of Argentina. 
The street additionally types Panama’s central freeway because it travels alongside the size of this slender nation. Nevertheless it stops 97kms earlier than the Colombian border the place a decent community of rivers, mountainous terrain and dense jungle vegetation is makes the area nearly impenetrable. Often called the Darién Hole, this area is without doubt one of the wildest locations on the planet and is simply actually traversable by boat. On the Chucunaque River, Panama’s longest, we swapped our automotive for a dugout canoe and headed downstream.
Traversing swamps on horseback
After 35 minutes we arrived at a farm and lifted our heavy digital camera gear up a muddy financial institution earlier than treading haphazard board walks to satisfy Mariano, the pinnacle of the González household who personal La Escondida farm. Chickens and muscovy geese ran at our toes and herds of cattle grazed the swampy land. There have been no farm buildings, only a breezeblock home with a tin roof the place the household lived. On the home we discovered a row of horses ready for us. Mariano and his household are enormously happy with the truth that they’ve harpy eagles nesting on their land and have been very eager to take us to see them.
However the subsequent stage of our journey was essentially the most tough. Enormous, darkish clouds have been gathering above us, threatening to flood the already water-logged floor and make it much more tough to traverse. However at this level in my journey nothing was going to cease me attending to the harpy eagle nest.
Dripping in sweat from the humidity, I received steadily wetter as I loaded my digital camera baggage onto the ready horses. I hadn’t been on a horse since I used to be a younger boy, and I started to really feel equally childish when certainly one of Mariano’s sons reached lead me and horse throughout the panorama. Nevertheless it quickly grew to become apparent why we wanted horses. The mud reached as much as the animal’s knees and the boys repeatedly misplaced their boots within the bathroom. Not solely had I lately torn a ligament in my knee, however even when I hadn’t there was no approach I might have carried my heavy digital camera gear throughout this swampy land on foot.
First sighting of a harpy eagle
After an hour, the moist pastures gave option to bushes and shortly we have been again within the forest. Right here the forest was too dense for horses and so we continued on foot. I used to be getting scorching and feeling saddle-sore by the point our information, Eliecer, finally pointed a finger to a small hole excessive within the tree cover.
And there it was. An enormous nest, resting within the fork of a cuipo tree. Cuipo bushes are the most important bushes of this area and measure as much as 200ft excessive, towering excessive of the remainder of the cover. Every part on this forest appeared super-sized, and so after I noticed a feminine harpy eagle sitting contained in the nest, it felt so surreal. Like coming throughout a legendary large in an outsized land.
Harpy eagles are revered all through the Americas
Right here was the world’s strongest fowl of prey, simply 60m away. As I scrambled to get my cameras, I couldn’t fairly imagine my eyes. The harpy eagle is so spectacular it’s revered throughout Central and South America. As I skilled my lens on it, it known as out, an extended whistle that rang out throughout the forest.
Eliecer stated the sound meant she was hungry and was calling for the male to carry meals. After which a small white head appeared over the rim of the nest. A chick about one month outdated. The feminine leaned over it, her solely chick, and for a second she seemed fiercely protecting. Mesmerised, we watched her and her chick for a complete of six hours, ignoring the humidity. All through, the feminine known as many times for meals. Then she took flight, her big two-metre wings at full unfold as she headed off into the forest.
Ready for a male harpy eagle
However she didn’t go far, and I might simply see her in a close-by tree. She was tussling with one thing which made me assume she was searching, however then she arrived again with a department and it appeared that she was simply refreshing the nest with some greenery.
She did, nonetheless, appear hungry and saved looking out the nest for meals in useless. Males don’t carry meals day-after-day we have been starting to surrender hope on seeing her mate in any respect after we heard the male lastly return the feminine’s calls. Then hastily, the male flew into the nest carrying prey. It was laborious to see what he had introduced because it stuffed his talons, however we watched the feminine take it from him and start to feed it to the chick.
The male was smaller than the feminine. We watched him look across the nest earlier than flying as much as the department above. He was there lengthy sufficient for me to get some wonderful footage of him after which he took flight, melting again into the forest.
Harpy eagle has virtually legendary standing
Though harpy eagles are extremely strong- they repeatedly catch sloths and monkeys – their wingspan is considerably smaller than that of, say a sea eagle, which is smart as a result of they reside in dense forest the place they want to have the ability to fly between bushes. It was tough to pull myself away but it surely was time to go again and so we set off to comply with our journey in reverse: strolling by the forest, driving on horseback throughout the swamp, canoeing down the river and eventually again into the automotive.
As we re-joined the Pan-American Freeway a rainstorm burst over our heads. However I barely observed it as I assumed in regards to the unbelievable day I had had. Harpy eagles are so uncommon and elusive, I felt I had entered a fabled world and watched a mythological fowl.
Robert Fuller was a visitor of Cover Tower (https://canopytower.com/). To expertise the same wildlife watching journey to Panama, he has teamed up with UK-based tour operator Wildfoot Journey to create bespoke wildlife and fowl watching itineraries. For extra data comply with this hyperlink: https://www.robertefuller.com/journey/