---
title: "Harpy Eagle"
description: "Harpia harpyja — Birds. The harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) is a large neotropical species of eagle."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/harpy-eagle
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Harpy Eagle

> Harpia harpyja — Birds. The harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) is a large neotropical species of eagle.

- Scientific name: *Harpia harpyja*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `forest` (Forest), `jungle` (Jungle)
- iNaturalist observations: 1642
- Wikidata: [Q53745](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q53745)
- iNaturalist taxon: [5321](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/5321)

## Names

- en: Harpy Eagle
- de: Harpyie
- es: Arpía mayor
- fr: Harpie féroce
- nl: Harpij
- pt: Gavião-real
- pl: Harpia wielka

## Countries with the most observations

BR (309), PA (174), EC (99), GY (58), PE (44), CO (42), GF (40), SR (18), BO (14), AR (8), VE (6), HN (4)

## Summary

The harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) is a large neotropical species of eagle. It is also called the American harpy eagle to distinguish it from the Papuan eagle, which is sometimes known as the New Guinea harpy eagle or Papuan harpy eagle. It is the largest bird of prey throughout its range, and among the largest extant species of eagles in the world. It usually inhabits tropical lowland rainforests in the upper (emergent) canopy layer. Destruction of its natural habitat has caused it to vanish from many parts of its former range, and it is nearly extirpated from much of Central America. It is the only member of the genus…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpy_eagle

## Photo

![Harpy Eagle](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/harpy-eagle/medium.jpg)

Photo: Hugo Hulsberg · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/167187843

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/harpy-eagle?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).