The most bad-ass birds I know

Armed with knife-like talons, hooked beaks and … poison? Here are some of the world’s most bad-ass birds!

The Philippine Eagle, also known as the Monkey-eating Eagle

Image credit: Wikipedia. The Philippine Eagle (also known as the Monkey-eating or Great Philippine Eagle) is one of the world’s rarest, largest and most powerful birds.

If there was a competition for the most bad-ass-looking bird, the Philippine Eagle may win: this bird is one of the biggest, strongest and rarest eagles in the world!

This bird of prey is known for its brown and white-colored plumage, a shaggy crest, and generally measures about a metre in length, and weighs up to 8 kilos. (That doesn’t sound like a lot, but in the bird world, IT IS!!! Birds are generally really light even if they are big. They have hollow bones because they need to fly.)

It’s also armed with powerful talons, and a huge, curved beak.

Image credit: Philippine Eagle Foundation. This magnificent, shaggy-crested raptor was discovered in 1896 by the English explorer John Whitehead. Its original moniker of Monkey-eating Eagle was changed when studies revealed that their diet seldom consists of monkeys, but mostly of Colugo (Flying-Lemur) and other small mammals, reptiles and even birds such as hornbills.

But… actually, it turns out it deciding what’s the ‘biggest’ or ‘largest’ bird can get pretty complicated. The Philippine Eagle has the largest wing length and wing surface area of all eagles (so it looks the biggest) but in terms of weight, it’s lighter and less bulky than birds such as the Harpy Eagle.

But oh, that’s neither here nor there. Let’s just agree that this bird is huge, and bad-ass!

Sadly, the Philippine Eagle - the national bird of the Philippines - is the rarest eagle in the world, with no competition there. There are fewer than 1,000 individual birds remaining.

Image credit: Rockjumper Birding. The Philippine Eagle is classified as Critically Endangered, the highest risk category assigned by the IUCN Red List for a wild species, and an estimated 180-500 survive in the wild. The reason for the species sad demise is habitat destruction. Most of the Philippine’s forests were destroyed during the 20th century and this tragedy still continues unabated. The bulk of the eagle’s present range falls within unprotected land belonging to logging companies.

They are apex predators in the forests of the Philippines, and will eat almost anything

When this bird was first discovered, it was given the moniker ‘Monkey-eating’, due to reports from native villagers that the eagle preyed exclusively on monkeys.

It was renamed "Philippine Eagle" in a 1978 proclamation by President Ferdinand Marcos, and then in 1995, it was declared a national emblem under President Fidel V. Ramos.

These birds occupy an enviable seat at the table: they are apex predators in the forests of the Philippines, and exist at the top of the food chain, with zero natural predators of its own. To date, they are the dominant hunter in the forests they occupy, and they have their choice of monkey meat, as well as deer, flying squirrels, wild boar and even small dogs!

If you live in Singapore and want to see these huge, rare birds, you’re in luck! In June 2019, a pair of Philippine Eagles were loaned to Singapore’s Jurong Bird Park as part of conservation efforts for the species. Let’s hope that this pair do the nasty during their time in Singapore, and produce lots of happy little Philippine Eagle chicks!

The Spur-winged Goose, whose weapon of choice is poison!

Unlike the large-and-in-charge Philippine Eagle, the Spur-winged Goose’s preferred method of killing is much more elegant: with poison!

You’re probably familiar with waterfowl such as ducks, geese and swans. And most of them are harmless little guys (unless you’re a piece of bread in the water, I suppose!)

Image credit: eBird.

The Spur-winged Goose, though, is one bird you need to watch out for if you have a habit of feeding the wildlife. They are one of the very, very few birds in the world that are poisonous!

Image credit: Ramsey Russel, GetDucks. The most important and interesting feature of the Spur-winged Goose is its namesake, the spur on the bend of their wings (pictured here). These spurs can be used for territorial disputes, especially during the breeding season when they are at their most aggressive.

How does this work?

Spur-winged Geese are testament to the saying, “you are what you eat”. Found in wetlands throughout sub-Saharan Africa, these geese love eating tiny little toxic beetles called Blister Beetles - named due to their ability to secrete a sort of blistering agent called cantharidin.

Image credit: Wildlife Den. Blister beetles are named for their defensive secretion of a blistering agent, cantharidin. About 7,500 species are known worldwide. Many are conspicuous and some are aposematically colored, announcing their toxicity to would-be predators!

I have some freaking cool fun facts about this blistering agent cantharidin. Buckle up.

1. It is a blistering agent / poison in large does.

2. But in small doses, it can be mixed with other ingredients to be a sort of aphrodisiac.

3. Cantharidin is secreted by the male blister beetle and given to the female as a ‘sexy time’ gift during mating. (Which is crazy to me because why would you willingly give your sexy time partner POISON??)

4. Afterward mating, the female beetle covers her eggs with this cantharidin as a defense against predators. (Oh, that’s why).

5. Since ancient times, mixtures containing small doses of this poison have been willingly ingested by humans because it can give mean a stronger and more prolonged erection?!

6. The French writer Marquis de Sade, aka the CREATOR OF SADISM himself (shoutout to BDSM) is said to have given this aphrodisiac to prostitutes during his famous orgies, and NEARLY KILLED TWO OF THEM in 1772?!

7. And now off the topic of this poison, but even more crazily, the Marquis de Sade was sentenced to death for that (and for the crime of sodomy), but was later reprieved on appeal. Wtf!

Honestly, what a ride.

Spur-Winged Geese absorb poisons from the toxic beetles they occasionally ingest, making their own geese flesh deadly to consume. The poison, cantharidin, is held within the meat tissue of the goose, resulting in the poisoning of those that have the bad luck of eating the cooked goose. 10 mg of cantharidin can kill a human!

Image credit: Kidadl. If you look closely at the wings of this goose, you can see the ‘spurs’ for which they are named. The males use to fight each other for the right to mate during the breeding season. Females have spurs as well, but they are smaller and not as sharp as the males’ spurs. These spurs are very sharp and can be poisonous!

I hope you enjoyed reading today’s article. It was a joy to do the research for this one - I learnt so much! Thanks for supporting me in my learning journey.