[link to www.unexplained-mysteries.com]

Mysterious New Zealand The Giant Eagle

Haast's Eagle (Harpagornis moorei), was a massive, now extinct eagle that once lived on the South Island of New Zealand. Also known as the Harpagornis Eagle, it was the largest eagle to have ever lived. Female Haast's Eagles weighed 10 to 15 kg (22 to 33 lb), and males weighed 9 to 10 kg (20 to 22 lb). They had a wingspan of roughly 2.6 to 3 m (8 to 10 ft) at most, which was short for a bird of the eagle's weight (the largest Golden Eagles and Steller's Sea Eagles may have a wingspan of almost the same length), but aided them when hunting in the dense forests of New Zealand. 300 years ago, however, the Haasts Eagle was officially extinct.

Or is it?

When european explorers returned from exploring New Zealand, they told tales of a bird so collosal it emitted a roar like that of a lion. The roarss were reported from Stewart Island as recently as 1961 and, because the animal making these nocturnal sounds was never seen, the legend of the giant eagle living on began to spread. Other suggested candidates are the New Zealand snipe, and the tui which can both imitate loud booming sounds. Many who heard the roars however, maintined to their deathbeds that what they heard was a beast that today remains a mystery, and certainly not any of the well known local bird life.

Julius Von Haast himself, discoverer of Haasts Eagle and one of the first explorers of New Zealand, a scientific though open minded man, actually saw what he thought was a giant eagle gliding through thin mist in the Canterbury mountains, and a large bird that walked into his tent one night was also suggested to be a giant eagle, though Haast believed it to be in fact a small Moa, but without evidence for either of these events, Haasts kept them quite secret in fear of ridicule from his scientific peers.