Description
The Philippine Eagle's nape is adorned with long brown feathers that form a shaggy crest. These feathers give it the appearance of possessing a lion's mane, which in turn resembles the mythical griffin. 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. The eagle's eyes are blue-gray. Juveniles are similar to adults except that their upperpart feathers have pale fringes.
The Philippine Eagle is typically reported as being 86–102 cm (2 ft 10 in–3 ft 4 in) long, but a survey at several of the largest natural history collection in the world found that the average was 95 cm (3 ft 1 in) for males and 105 cm (3 ft 5 in) for females. Based on the latter measurements, this makes it the longest extant species of eagle, as the average for the female equals the maximum reported for the Harpy Eagle and Steller's Sea Eagle. The longest Philippine Eagle reported anywhere and the longest eagle outside of the extinct Haast's Eagle is a specimen from Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH) with a length of 112 cm (3 ft 8 in), but it had been kept in captivity and therefore may not represent the wild individuals due to differences in the food availability. The level of sexual dimorphism in size is not certain, but it is believed that the male typically is about 10% smaller than the female and this is supported by the average length provided for males and females in one source. For adult Philippine Eagles, the complete weight range has been reported as 4.7 to 8 kg (10 to 18 lb), while others have found that the average was 4.5 kg (9.9 lb) for males and 6 kg (13 lb) for females. It has a wingspan of 184 to 220 cm (6 ft 0 in to 7 ft 3 in) and a wing chord length of 57.4–61.4 cm (22.6–24.2 in). The maximum reported weight is surpassed by two other eagles (the Harpy and Steller's Sea Eagle) and the wings are shorter than large eagles of open country (such as the Martial Eagle, Wedge-tailed Eagle and Steller's Sea Eagle), but are quite broad. The tarsus of the Philippine Eagle is the longest of any eagle, from12.2 to 14.5 cm (4.8 to 5.7 in) long. The very large but laterally compressed bill rivals the size of the Steller's Sea Eagle's bill for the title of largest living eagle bill. It's bill averages 7.22 cm (2.84 in) in length from the gape. The tail is fairly long at 42–45.3 cm (17–17.8 in) in length, while another source lists a tail length of 50 cm (20 in).
The most frequently heard noises made by the Philippine Eagle are loud, high-pitched whistles ending with inflections in pitch. Additionally, juveniles have been known to beg for food by a series of high-pitched calls.
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