Researchers are studying the only known active harpy eagle nest in the remote forests of Belize, where harpy eagles were previously thought to be extinct. James Rotenberg, assistant professor of environmental studies at UNCW, and researchers from the Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education are monitoring the nest shared by an adult pair and their baby.

“In 2000 it was thought that the last [harpy eagle] was shot in Belize,” Rotenberg said. He and other scientists found a juvenile harpy eagle in 2005 and have been looking for more ever since. The nest was discovered in November by Belizean technicians in the heart of the Bladen Nature Reserve in the Maya Mountains, a 12-mile backpack trip away from the nearest research station. “Biologically, the presence of the Harpy pair and chick signifies an in-tact ecosystem that extends to the highest predator,” said Rotenberg in a press release.

The harpy eagle is a “Near Threatened” species and “Critically Endangered” in Belize. More than 700 miles separate the harpy eagles in Belize from other populations, according to a press release from BFREE. National Geographic reports that the harpy eagle once ranged from southeast Mexico to Argentina. Now Panama, Guyana and Venezuela are among the last places where the bird has survived. Rotenberg says the harpy eagles have been all but exterminated in South America.

The harpy eagle is one of the largest birds in the world and is the largest raptor in the Americas, according to The Nature Conservancy. With a six-to-seven-foot wingspan, these predators hunt prey as large as monkeys. Rotenberg explains that researchers in the field, called avian technicians, spend time watching the nest from a ridge 400 meters away. They look down into the nest with a spotting scope to see what kind of food items the parents are bringing in. The adult pair has brought a tamandua (anteater), an anhinga (water turkey), a curassow, a possum and part of a howler monkey to the nest, said Judy Doursan, director of programs at BFREE. “This bird has a voracious appetite.”

BFREE attributes the harpy eagle’s dwindling numbers to hunting and deforestation. “People shoot them on site,” Rotenberg said. Belizean farmers shoot the eagles because they think the birds will eat their livestock.

BFREE’s educational outreach program, conducted only by Belizean field staff, has been very effective, Rotenberg said. More than 250 children from Belizean villages are involved.

Rotenberg says the next step is to work with the Peregrine Fund to put a satellite transmitter on the nestling, allowing researchers to track the juvenile. He says the team cannot risk losing the adults, as they represent the only breeding pair. However, the success rate is 100 percent; no birds have died as a result of the tracking device.

Sharon Matola, founder of the Belize Zoo, and the Peregrine Fund collaborated on the release of captive bred Harpy Eagles into areas of northern Belize even before the presence of the wild harpy eagles was documented, said Doursan. “The presence of breeding birds only adds to that project as it proves that Belize has the habitat to support these large animals.”

Rotenberg, along with 15 UNCW students, will travel to Belize and Guatemala during spring break.