To catch a harpy

摘要

The harpy is the world's largest ant fiercest eagle, but also the least known. To save this elusive bird from extinction, you must first find and catch it. This dangerous mission is not for the faint-hearted, as PETE OXFORD discovered when he joined scientists in the Amazonian canopy. A FRESHWATER STINGRAY wafted through the muddied murkiness of the Amazon tributary as we sloshed with unsteady footfalls, almost waist-high in water, towards the Gothic buttress roots of a giant kapok tree. From high above me, in the union of majestic, bromeliad-covered branches, came the plaintive cries of a seven-month-old harpy eagle - our quarry.