This is Bird Note.

When humans first arrived on what is now Cuba, they would have encountered an ecosystem somewhat different than we know it today.

The ancestors of the Guanahataabe people likely shared the island with sloths as big as black bears, ambling through the open woodlands, monk seals lounging on the beaches, long-legged owls the size of children,

stalking the forest floor at night, and all of them living in the shadow of a giant.

Giganta Hierax is an extinct genus of eagles whose fossils have been found in local cave deposits and tar seeps.

They've left only scant remains, mostly leg bones, but the fossils show that these birds were heavily built and massive.

With an estimated weight of nearly 30 pounds, Giganta-Hirac Suarezzi, the larger of the two-name

species, would have been the biggest raptor known from the Americas, barely edged out by

the similarly sized Haas Eagle of New Zealand. This would make them ten times heavier than the red-tailed hawk.

Little else is known about Giganta Hierax, but forthcoming research may help us better understand the lifestyle and appearance of these awesome antelian

eagles and the lost ecosystem of the island they ruled. For bird note, I'm Ade Ben Salah

Dhan.