#2545 - Hieraaetus moorei - Haast's Eagle
The largest eagle ever known to exist. Almost certainly the pouākai of Māori mythology. They certainly would have paid attention to it since it was big enough to consider humans as particularly stupid Moa who stood around in the open.
Here's some talon marks in a Moa hipbone.
Originally described as Harpagornis moorei by Julius von Haast in 1871, from the Greek harpax, meaning "grappling hook". DNA analysis later showed that this bird was actually related to the much smaller little eagle (Hieraaetus morphnoides) and booted eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus) and not the large wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax) of Australia.
It probably evolved from the little eagle 1.8 million to 700,000 years ago, which means it increased ten to fifteen times in size - the largest, fastest evolutionary increase in average weight of any known vertebrate species. There were no other large predators in New Zealand, and an abundance of giant flightless prey.
It had a relatively short wingspan for a bird in its weight class. Females were estimated to span 2.6 m, possibly up to 3 m. It seems likely they pursued prey into dense forests, like the goshawks and harpy eagle.
The eagles most likely became extinct in the 1400s, after the Māori hunted their usual prey to extinction. Maori oral tradition about the birds persist to today, with late 1800s records saying it had red, black and white plumage with "black feathers tinged with yellow or green" and "a bunch of red feathers on its head".
Te Papa, Wellington, New Zealand.
