Comments on: Pouaka: New Zealand’s Man-Eating Bird

By: Sordes

Sordes — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:58:53 +0000

Condors are very large, but they are not the largest flying birds. Albatrosses exceed them in absolut wingspan and swans can reach higher weights.
But condors are not really the best comparisons to the Haast eagle. Condors have very weak feet and only small talons. Haast eagles had the strongest feet known among all birds of prey, and they talons were of monstrous size.

By: skunkmonkey2002

skunkmonkey2002 — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 05:33:57 +0000

The size of this bird is staggering, but size-wise there is a living bird you can look at for comparisons. You may even find them at your local zoo: the Andean Condor. They are the largest flighted bird alive, with wingspans from 9-11 feet (a foot or so wider than the Haast's Eagle) and larger individuals going up to 11 to 15 kg. By comparison, the common turkey vulture is only about 2.5 kgs. We have some at the local zoo here in Knoxville, TN and they are a sight to behold. It's hard to imagine an Eagle of this size actively hunting for prey.

By: The_Master

The_Master — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:06:11 +0000

I heard from somewhere (tohugh I don’t remember where exactly) that the moa actually lived until 200 years ago…now, about this Eagle, I hope it is true, though it would be scary to encounter one. Also, it would be a danger for many Endangered Species, including the kakapo

By: Fhqwhgads

Fhqwhgads — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:21:01 +0000

I thought the Anzu-bird had died out millenia ago.

By: Andrew D. Gable

Andrew D. Gable — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:52:59 +0000

The story of the killing of Pouaka or Poukai is interesting. A man used a friend of his as bait to lure the bird out of its cave, whereupon he killed it with his war-club. It’s interesting in that the slaying of the bird via ‘sacrifice’, even a false one, resembles closely the story of the killing of the Piasa, or at least one version of the story. I don’t know about the cryptozoological context of the Piasa, if any, but that’s neither here nor there…

By: Sordes

Sordes — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:34:54 +0000

Nice to see that the actual weights are shown here, at many other news only the exagerated weight of 20 kg and the 3 m wingspan figure were published. They also wrote that Harpagornis was only able to kill a child. Actually, given the fact that we know from punctured hip-bones of moas than even the largest species like Dinornis were killed, and that even living eagles like the golden eagles are known to kill deer-sized animals, the huge Harpagornis with its enormous claws would have had surely no problem to kill an adult human. Some weeks ago I had the opportunity to see South American harpys, Steller's sea eagles and Eurasian black vultures at one of the two zoos at Berlin. All of this species reach about the size of a male Haast-eagle and even exceed it in wing span. But to imagine that female Haast eagles were even bigger than those huge birds of prey and giant vultures, is really amazing.

By: Uriah

Uriah — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:58:53 +0000

“19th Century New Zealand governor Sir George Grey,… described it as a huge black-and-white predator with a red crest and yellow-green tinged wingtips.”

That is very reminiscent of how many have described the Thunderbird, no?