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Portrait of Philippine eagle

Nature · Birds

Philippine eagle

Critically Endangered · c. 400 breeding pairs

Pithecophaga jefferyi — Accipitridae

The national bird of the Philippines and, by length, the largest eagle in the world, a shaggy-crested brown raptor of Mindanao, Luzon, Samar and Leyte rainforest. Once called the monkey-eating eagle, it takes flying lemurs, monkeys, civets, snakes and hornbills. Critically Endangered since 1994, it is thought to number only a few hundred breeding pairs, and killing one has long carried a heavy legal penalty.

How to spot them

  • ▸A long, shaggy crest of cream-coloured, brown-streaked lanceolate feathers raised over the nape
  • ▸Dark brown above with a creamy nape and white underparts; pale blue-grey eyes
  • ▸Very long tail and broad wings: the greatest length of any eagle, up to about 1 m
  • ▸A loud, high, whistling series, often a paired 'wee-oo'
  • ▸Found only in primary dipterocarp forest in the Philippines, on four islands

How to know it

By body length the world's largest eagle, up to about a metre from bill to tail

Philippine eagle — Steller's sea eagle and the harpy eagle are heavier.

Its generic name means 'monkey-eater', and it was long known by that English name too

Pithecophaga jefferyi, the Philippine eagle.

Replaced the maya as its country's national bird in 1995 by presidential proclamation

Philippine eagle, declared national bird of the Philippines.

Endemic to just four islands — Mindanao, Luzon, Samar and Leyte — with Mindanao holding most of the population

Philippine eagle.

Its favourite prey is the Philippine flying lemur, a gliding colugo, not a lemur or a monkey at all

Philippine eagle's chief prey.

Pag-asa, meaning 'hope', was the first of its kind bred in captivity, hatched in Davao in 1992

Philippine Eagle Center, Davao City.

A pair raises one chick every two years, which makes any adult death disastrous for the population

Philippine eagle — Critically Endangered since 1994.

Quick-fire facts

  • •Length 86–102 cm; female 4.7–8 kg, male 4.0–5.4 kg; wingspan about 1.8–2.2 m, short relative to length
  • •Described in 1896 by John Whitehead, who named it for his father Jeffery
  • •IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered, listed as such since 1994; roughly 400 breeding pairs are thought to survive, chiefly on Mindanao
  • •Was the Philippine 'monkey-eating eagle' until 1978, when President Marcos renamed it the Philippine eagle
  • •Proclaimed national bird in 1995 under President Fidel Ramos, replacing the maya (Eurasian tree sparrow)
  • •The Philippine Eagle Foundation runs the Philippine Eagle Center at Malagos, Davao City, where Pag-asa hatched on 15 January 1992
  • •Killing one has carried penalties of up to 12 years' imprisonment and a heavy fine under Philippine wildlife law
  • •Slash-and-burn agriculture, logging and mining have removed most of the lowland dipterocarp forest it needs

Drill it — 8 cards

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Sources