Features
The eagle has a dark face and a creamy-brown nape and crown. The back of the Philippine eagle is dark brown, while the underside and underwings are white. The heavy legs are yellow, with large, powerful, dark claws, and the prominent, large, high-arched, deep beak is a bluish-gray. Philippine eagles are found on four of the more than 6,000 islands in the Philippines: Luzon, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao. Their preferred habitats include primary forests in the lowlands and at mid-elevation, much of which has been cleared for development and logging, driving many eagles farther into the mountains
What they do
Philippine Eagles, like all top predators, play a very important role in their environment. They are what is known as an umbrella species. Just as several people can stand under one large umbrella and be protected from the rain, so too can many species of wildlife be protected by conserving one species like the Philippine Eagle. To protect the eagles, we must protect the monkeys and civets and other animals they need for food, the plants and animals that monkeys and civets feed on, and the trees that Philippine Eagles nest in, which helps protect the other animals that use these trees for food, shelter, and space. Conserving Philippine Eagles and their habitat automatically provides protection for all the other plants and animals that live there too.
Eggs
Philippine Eagles construct huge stick nests that they build high in the main fork of a tree, often on a platform of ferns and orchids. Every other year, the female lays one large white egg, which must be incubated for about 2 months. When the chick hatches, it looks like a big-headed, big-footed ball of cotton. During the first several weeks, the chick cannot thermoregulate, or control its own body temperature. Both the male and the female take turns protecting their young from rain or sun, heat or cold. Click here to learn more about the philippine eagle
Species
Did you know:
- The Philippine Eagle was named the national bird of the Philippines in 1995,
- The Philippine Eagle is one of the rarest birds in the world, with an estimated population of fewer than than 500 individuals,
- The Philippine Eagle was the official mascot for the Southeast Asian Games competition in 2005,
