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The visual fields of the Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja)

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Abstract

We describe for the first time the visual fields of the largest tropical raptor, the Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja), a powerful keystone species that hunts almost exclusively in forested habitats. They have the largest blind area described to date of any diurnal raptor species, and relatively narrow binocular fields, which together may help explain the way they interact with their prey in the visually complex environments they inhabit. As a top predator, their spatial visual sampling is likely driven more by foraging needs than predator detection, and they thus serve as an excellent study species for understanding the tradeoffs between visually guided foraging and anti-predatory behaviors. Further studies on the position and the projection of retinal foveae, visual acuity, and color vision will improve our understanding of their visual capabilities and could play important roles in conservation of a vulnerable Neotropical species.

Zusammenfassung

Das Gesichtsfeld der Harpyie ( Harpia harpyja )

Wir beschreiben hier zum ersten Mal das Gesichtsfeld des größten tropischen Greifvogels, der Harpyie (Harpia harpyja), einer wichtigen Schlüsselart, die fast ausschließlich in bewaldeten Lebensräumen jagt. Die Tiere haben den größten bisher beschriebenen blinden Bereich aller tagaktiven Greifvogelarten und relativ schmale Sehfelder, was erklären könnte, auf welche Weise sie mit ihrer Beute in der visuell komplexen Umgebung, in der diese lebt, interagieren. Als ausgeprägter Räuber wird ihr räumliches visuelles Erfassen der Umgebung wahrscheinlich eher von der Nahrungssuche als durch das Aufspüren von Raubtieren bestimmt, und sie sind daher als Art hervorragend geeignet für Untersuchungen zum Verständnis der Nutzen-/Kosten-Analyse von visuell gesteuerter Nahrungssuche versus Anti-Raubtier-Verhalten. Weitere Studien zur Position und Projektion der Netzhautfurchen, der Sehschärfe und des Farbsehens können unser Verständnis der visuellen Fähigkeiten der Harpyie vertiefen und eine wichtige Rolle bei der Erhaltung einer gefährdeten neotropischen Art spielen.

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Availability of data and materials

Data and code used for some figures are available at the following public repository: https://osf.io/xk5qn/.

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Funding

This study did not utilize financial support or grants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, University of Florida, 2015 SW 16th Ave, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Anna E. Brewer & Bret A. Moore

  2. Diretoria de Coordenação Departamento de Áreas Protegidas, ITAIPU Binacional, RefúgioBiológico Bela Vista, Rua Teresina, 62, Vila C, Foz do Iguaçu, PR, 85870-280, Brazil

    Wanderlei de Moraes & Zalmir Silvino Cubas

  3. Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), Rua dos Funcionários, 1540, Curitiba, PR, 80035-050, Brazil

    Thiago Alegre Coelho Ferreira, Andre Tovares Somma, Rogerio R. Lange & Fabiano Montiani-Ferreira

  4. Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York Plattsburgh, 101 Broad St., Plattsburgh, NY, USA

    Luke P. Tyrrell

  5. College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Colorado State University, 300 W. Drake Rd., Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Tara M. Czepiel

  6. Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, 915 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Esteban Fernández-Juricic

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  1. Anna E. Brewer
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  2. Wanderlei de Moraes
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  10. Fabiano Montiani-Ferreira
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  11. Bret A. Moore
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Correspondence to Bret A. Moore.

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No author has any competing financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethical approval

All animal housing, handling, and procedures were approved by and were in compliance with the ethical standards set by the Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Agrárias, Comissão de Ética no Uso de Animais (protocol number 075/2016).

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Brewer, A.E., de Moraes, W., Ferreira, T.A.C. et al. The visual fields of the Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja). J Ornithol 164, 651–658 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-023-02054-y

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