The Haast's Eagle (Hieraaetus moorei )
Extinct: Around 1445 ?
The Haast's Eagle is an extinct species of eagle that once lived in the South Island of New Zealand, commonly accepted to be the Pouakai of Maori legend.
It is the largest eagle known to have existed, with an estimated weight of 15 kilograms (33 lb), compared to the next-largest and extant harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja), at up to 9 kg (20 lb).
Haast's eagle was first described by Julius von Haast in 1871 from remains discovered by F. Fuller in a former marsh.
Its massive size is explained as an evolutionary response to the size of its prey - the flightless moa, the largest of which could weigh 230 kg (510 lb).
DNA analysis has shown that this raptor is related most closely to the much smaller little eagle as well as the booted eagle.
Haast's eagles were one of the largest known true raptors. In length and weight, Haast's eagle was even larger than the largest living vultures.
Female eagles were significantly larger than males. Most estimates place the female Haast’s eagles in the range of 10–15 kg (22–33 lb) and males around 9–12 kg (20–26 lb).
One source estimates that the largest females could have scaled more than 16.5 kg (36 lb) in mass.
Even the largest extant eagles, none of which are verified to exceed 9 kg (20 lb) in a wild state, are about forty percent smaller in body size than Haast's eagles.
The talons of the Haast's eagle were similar in length to those of the harpy eagle, with a front-left talon length of 4.9 to 6.15 cm (1.93 to 2.42 in) and a hallux-claw of possibly up to 11 cm (4.3 in).
A 2021 analysis showed that, while predatory, the bill of the Haast's eagle was functionally closer to that of the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) than to that of other eagles.
This is also supported by historic Māori Cave art which depicts the Haast's eagle being pale-headed.
They had a relatively short wingspan for their size. It is estimated that the grown female typically spanned up to 2.6 m (8.5 ft), possibly up to 3 m (9.8 ft) in a few cases.
Short wings may have aided Haast's eagles when hunting in the dense scrubland and forests of New Zealand.
Haast's eagles preyed on large, flightless bird species, including the moa, which was up to fifteen times the weight of the eagle.
It is estimated to have attacked at speeds up to 80 km/h (50 mph), often seizing its prey's pelvis with the talons of one foot and killing with a blow to the head or neck with the other.
One study estimated the total population of Haast's eagle at 3,000 to 4,500 breeding pairs.
Early Māori settlers arrived in New Zealand sometime between AD 1250 and AD 1275, hunted moa to extinction, introduced the Polynesian rat (Rattus exulans), and destroyed large tracts of forest by fire.
Both eagles and Māori probably competed for the same foods. The loss of its primary prey caused the Haast's eagle to become extinct around 1445.
Recent discoveries seem to prove that Haast’s Eagle may be the man-eating eagle referred to in Maori legend as the pouakai or hokioi.
A noted explorer, Charles Edward Douglas, claims in his journals that he had an encounter with two raptors of immense size in Landsborough River valley (probably during the 1870s), and that he shot and ate them; but it is thought most likely they were Eyles' harriers.

Music: Vital Whales - Unicorn Heads (YouTube Audio Library)