Seeing a special bird can take enormous effort, as I discovered recently on a quest in the jungles of Guyana.<\/p>\n
As we headed along a narrow river towards our destination, we had to cope with heat and humidity and navigate huge rocks and fallen logs. All this just to see a baby bird.<\/p>\n
I say baby, but harpy eagles \u2013 named after mythical ancient Greek spirits with a raptor\u2019s body and a woman\u2019s head \u2013 are easily the biggest bird of prey in the Americas, and one of the largest in the world.<\/p>\n
I had always wanted to see one but because they only breed every two or three years our chances were far from certain.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, soon after we arrived the youngster materialised seemingly out of nowhere, staring balefully across the river towards us from his nesting tree.<\/p>\n
Roughly 18 months old, and almost 4ft (1.2 metres) tall, his appearance was quite bizarre: pale grey, his white head adorned with plumes like a court jester\u2019s hat.<\/p>\n
He called plaintively to his parents somewhere in the surrounding forest, begging them to bring back food.<\/p>\n
We stood and watched for some time, hoping one of the adults might return, but despite panicking calls from a nearby troop of howler monkeys, they presumably failed to make a kill.<\/p>\n
We left the young harpy still waiting for his dinner, those haunting calls echoing long into the distance as we headed slowly home.<\/p>\n