New Zealand Giant Eagle/Hieraaetus (Lost Kingdoms Series A by Yowie)

When a species goes extinct, you take out one piece of the food web, affecting everything above and below it. When the Moa went extinct, so too did it’s main predator, the largest eagle to ever have existed, Haast’s eagle, Hieraaetus. Once it flew through the forests of New Zealand, preying on the Moa, grabbing their pelvis and slashing their neck with their sharp talons, which gave them their initial (and cooler sounding) scientific name of Harpagornis. When humanity wiped out the Moa, the giant eagles lost their food supply and went with them. Only one company has made a figure of this mighty bird, Yowie, so let’s see it.

To the figure! The colouration matches that of some modern raptors, especially forest ones, so works brilliantly here. It measures 1.2″ high, 3″ in wingspan and 1.9″ long, small but works for smaller lines. The pose is incredible dynamic, as if going into a stoop to kill, or perhaps landing to roost. It is as you choose, but it works very well.

Onto accuracy! This isn’t terrible, with good and bad things to say. The head is a tad small for my liking, lacking the longer head shape it should have, though that may be my own tastes. The claws don’t display the full talons the animal had, but this is likely due to being sold to children. What I really like is the wings. Haast’s eagle had relatively short wings, helping it to nimbly fly through the dense forests of New Zealand, and they are perfectly represented here.

There may not be a lot of options for mass produced models, but this is still a worthy one. I honestly feel it is a good sculpt of an amazing species, and well worth getting. I am glad of Yowie for making this model, and recommend you pick it up. As it is discontinued, eBay will be the best bet, so if you see it, get it.