Recovery and release of Crowned Solitary Eagle (Harpyhaliaetus coronatus) in Sierra de las Quijadas national park, San Luis, Argentina

ANDRÉS CAPDEVIELLE; FACUNDO BARBAR; MANUEL ENCABO; GUSTAVO APRILE; RAMIRO RODRÍGUEZ

Iguazú

Conferencia; Second Neotropical Raptor Conference; 2006

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary

We recovered a female Crowned Solitary Eagle (Harpyhaliaetus coronatus) that had been shot. After its clinical recovery, the eagle passed through two different stages of training: (1) flights to the glove, vertical jumps, and flights on a long leash, and (2) flights in a field, hunting non-wild prey similar to or the same as its natural prey. In both cases, the bird was trained everyday and was fasted once a week initially and twice a week during the second stage of training. We kept the eagle in a 3×4-m box with a mobile platform. The bird gradually recovered physically during the stages of quarantine and physical rehabilitation that included muscular exercises and flight resistance. Its behavior toward potential prey also changed and it developed hunting skills. Because of this, we decided to release the eagle in Sierra de las Quijadas National Park where information on the number of eagles, their location, and the environmental conditions of the area were available. The bird was released after 20 months in captivity and is now being tracked by radio.