It has excellent vision and can see something less than 1 inch (2 centimeters) in size from almost 220 yards (200 meters) away. The bird perches silently for hours-up to 23!-in a tree, patiently waiting to catch unsuspecting prey. And the harpy eagle can turn its head upside down to get a better look at its potential meal. Its short, broad wings help the harpy fly almost straight up, too, so it can attack prey from below as well as above. It dives down onto its prey and snatches it with outstretched feet. Instead, the powerful harpy flies below the forest canopy and uses its great talons to snatch up monkeys and sloths that can weigh up to 17 pounds (7.7 kilograms)! A harpy is capable, in a serious chase, of reaching speeds of 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour). You will never see a harpy eagle soaring over the top of a rainforest. Harpies are great at saving precious energy. When heard, they wail (wheee, wheee-ooooo), croak, whistle, click, and mew. The strong, silent type, harpy eagles do not vocalize much. A harpy nest measures about 4 feet (1.2 meters) thick and 5 feet (1.5 meters) across, large enough for a person to lie across! Once built, an eagle pair may reuse and remodel the same nest for many years. Harpies use large sticks to create the nest's huge frame and line it with softer greens, seedpods, and animal fur to make it warm and comfortable. They like to use trees with widely spaced branches for a clear flight path to and from the nest. For nesting, harpies favor silk-cotton trees (kapok trees) and usually build nests 90 to 140 feet (27 to 43 meters) above the ground. Despite their wingspan, which can reach up to 6.5 feet (2 meters) across, harpies fly through their forest home with great agility. Harpy eagles range from Mexico to northern Argentina and live in forested areas.
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