Throughout its range from southern Mexico to northern Argentina, the harpy is rare and edging toward threatened or even endangered status, although accurate population counts have been impossible to make because the birds are so secretive. One problem is that harpies are so large they make a satisfying quarry for hunters in search of bush meat and so much a symbol of power that they are collected as part of shamanistic beliefs and for their feathers. Another is that the bird's own prey species are also relentlessly sought by people. In addition, deforestation everywhere shrinks harpy eagle habitat at an alarming rate. Compounding these sad facts is the bird's own reproductive cycle.
Harpies have one of the longest chick-rearing periods of any bird.
They lay two eggs, but only one usually hatches, after nearly two months incubation by the female. During that time, the female is fed by her mate, who is considerably lighter built then she is. The chick takes about six months of parental care before it learns to fly and will continue to receive food, mainly from its mother, for another year or more. This means a pair of harpies can only bring one chick to independence in every two to three years. All of these considerations seem far away as I sit in the eagles' tree.