Eagles+and+Hawks

=

Eagles and Hawks=

Eagles and hawks are birds of prey. They have very sharp beaks and claws and they can fly very fast and high. They have excellent eyesight and can spot their prey from way up high in the sky.

The wedge tail eagle is an Australian eagle. They are very big birds.
 * The wedge tail eagle**
 * Females can sometimes weigh nearly 6 kilograms.
 * Males are smaller but they can sometimes weigh up to 4 kilograms.
 * Their wingspans can be more than 200 cm.

Eagles are light brown when they are young and dark brown-black when they are full-grown.

They fly around in the sky most of the time looking for prey, but they nest in the fork of a tall tree.

They eat rabbits and hares, or any small animals. Sometimes they gang up and hunt kangaroos, goats, or sheep so that they can attack the weak ones by themselves. They also eat road-kill or dead animals that other birds like crows have killed.

Source: []

Harris's hawks are American hawks. They are much smaller than eagles. They can grow from 46 to 76cm and have a wingspan of 1.1 metres. Males weigh about 700 grams and females are about 1 kilogram. They have dark brown feathers and long yellow legs.
 * [[image:Harris's Hawk (Wikipedia Commons).jpg align="right" caption="Harris's Hawk (Source: Wikipedia Commons)"]]Harris's Hawks**

They attack their prey with their sharp beaks and claws. They eat birds, lizards, small mammals, and large insects. They often hunt in groups to kill rabbits.

They live in woodlands, deserts that are not too dry, and in marshes.

Some people train them to go hunting for them. This is called falconry.

Source: []


 * Harpy Eagle**

The harpy eagle lives in tropical rainforests in Central and northern South America, in countries like Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. It is a very large, very powerful raptor but it is endangered because so much rainforest has been cut down by humans.

They live high in the tops of rainforest trees, watching for prey down below. Sometimes they fly around above rivers or waterholes waiting for animals to come to drink or eat.

Harpy eagles have very powerful feet with razor-sharp talons like daggers. They use these to tear into the flesh of their prey. These talons are stronger than the jaws of a Rottweiler and can crush a human arm.

Harpy eagles have a wingspan of up to two metres. They can weigh up to nine kilograms. Females are usually bigger than males. They fluff up their head and neck feathers when they are hungry and ruffle their large feathers to frighten their prey.

Harpy eagles are at the top of the food chain. That means that they have no natural enemies and no other animal preys on them for food. But these eagles eat many different animals, mainly mammals like monkeys and sloths. They also eat squirrels, possums, porcupines and anteaters, as well as reptiles like snakes, lizards and iguanas. Sometimes they eat other birds like parrots, and they can also hunt farm animals like lambs, chickens, goats and small pigs. If they kill a large animal like a deer, they drag it to a log or tree stump and guard it till it is eaten because it is too heavy to carry up to the nest.

Harpy eagles build their nests right at the top of the tallest trees in the rainforest. It is very dangerous for humans to go near these nests.