Huge and Happy Harpy News

Although he is unaware of the excitement, "Panama" the Harpy Eagle at The Belize Zoo has a new and significant role to play as an ambassador for his species. We are adding an empowered message to his profile: "Look at me! Aren’t i beautiful and grand! Aand my species lives in the bladen nature resereve, one of the last wild places in all of central america! Protect these forests and the harpy eagle will be part of your natural history forever!"

Exciting and officially documented, a harpy eagle nest, providing a happy nursery for one harpy chick, has been discovered in a remote valley in the Bladen Nature Reserve. The director of Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education, BFREE, Mr. Jacob Marlin, knew there must b e a nest in the Nature Reserve, as he had seen and photographed a juvenile harpy eagle a few years ago.

But finding a harpy eagle nest is not easy. The lush tropical forest in the Bladen Nature Reserve provides ample hiding places for a pair of harpy eagles to build their nest. However, at the end of last year, Mr. Marlin and his team succeeded in finding this treasure. The nest is safe and active and to the delight of all, was a happy nursery for a harpy eagle chick.

It is not just an important discovery, it is a historic one. The nest is the first ever recorded in our country and represents the most northerly known harpy eagle nest in all of the Americas.

Soon, BFREE and TBZ will combine resources to launch a lively and very vital environmental education program. This dynamic program will focus upon our treasured harpy eagles, and the forests which sustain them.

A wild harpy eagle population in Belize, combined with the harpy eagle restoration efforts by The Peregrine Fund, The Belize Zoo, the Government of Belize, and Programme for Belize, has significant meaning. Both "eagle efforts" will contribute to seeing that these magnificent raptors call Belize their home for years to come.

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