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 Guana Hatobe people likely shared the island with sloths as big as

black bears, ambling through the open woodlands.

Long 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.

Jaganta highracks is an extinct genus of eagles whose fossils have been found in local cave

deposits and tarseeps.

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, Jaganta highracks were asy, the larger of

the two names species, would have been the biggest raptor known from the Americas, barely

edged out by the similarly sized Hoss Evil of New Zealand.

This would make them ten times heavier than the red-tailed hawk.

Little else is known about Jaganta highracks, but forthcoming research may help us better

understand the lifestyle and appearance of these awesome Antillian eagles and the lost

ecosystem of the island they ruled.

For bird note, I'm a Dave and Salahuddin.