THE HARPY EAGLE NEST - A NEW HOPE IN THE ECUADORIAN AMAZON

LORETO NEST IN UPPER AMAZON BASIN

LIMONCOCHA NEST IN LOWER AMAZON BASIN  

The Harpy Eagle, is the largest and most powerful raptor in the world, its at the top of the food chain. Its natural habitat is the tropical lowland rainforests, but due to the destruction of its habitat it has caused it to vanish from many places. Now, its a critical endangered bird specie, and fortunately the last 2-years we have found 2 different nests in the Ecuadorian Amazon, close to Yasuni National Park. 

The First Harpy Eagle Nest was found on February 2021, near Limoncocha Biological Reserve. Throughout the year we have been monitoring this rare and unique specie. Even though the location is quite remote in the Lower Amazon Basin, we were able to visit every 3 months with our birding clientes and the evolution of the chick to a mature juvenile harpy eagle has been unique!

To be able to observe this specie we needed a Private Canoe transfer from Pompeya Norte to Napo Islands and Limoncocha Reserve. At the Harpy Eagle Reserve it required a small hike through the swamp (jn rainy season) or a smooth mud trail (in dry season). Now (December 2022), it is still possible to observe the Adult Harpy Eagle at the reserve and we have recently discover that the Adult Harpy are building another nest in the same area. Hopefully next year in 2023 we will have a new Harpy and new hope to this rare specie. 

The Second Harpy Eagle Nest was found in the Summer of 2022 at a indigenous community near Loreto Town. To access this nest it requires an early start at 4:30am, as the start of the trail is around 1 hour from the town. From here its a short hike for about 1 hour that requires crossing 2-small-streams in rainny season. We aim early birding to try to observe the Harpy Adults as well. Now, the Juvenile Harpy Eagle is frequently observe near the nest, as its learning to fly. We hope to see this specie until July 2023 at this location. 

If you want to observe this specie please contact us! The reserve is about 5 hours from Quito. We usually visit this reserve on our way to the Lower Amazon Basin.