Which eagle has the strongest beak (1 Viewer)

[BrownnishSkua]

I know there is a long discussion regarding the talon and grip strength of eagles. I would be interesting to know if the steller's sea eagle possesses the strongest beak of any eagle given it has the largest beak of any eagle yet it feeds on spawning salmon by cutting through the gills first.
What does others think?

 

[BALAWE]

I know there is a long discussion regarding the talon and grip strength of eagles. I would be interesting to know if the steller's sea eagle possesses the strongest beak of any eagle given it has the largest beak of any eagle yet it feeds on spawning salmon by cutting through the gills first.
What does others think?

I think eagles do all have strong sharp beak they can tear off flesh and ligaments like the forest eagles that also eat reptiles such as large snakes and monitor lizard which also has a thick hide as compared to salmon...

As for the largest beak, there are two eagle specie with a largest beak.

 

[BrownnishSkua]

Right, I understand and am aware of this, the steller's sea eagle has the largest beak followed by the philippine's monkey eagle, I am curius to know if beak strength is in proportion to size because it seems to be so in vultures (the vulture with the largest beak is the one with the strongest beak).
And eagles do get to eat through tough skin because those talons acctually pierce through skin and they are able to feast through the wounds.

 

[BALAWE]

Right, I understand and am aware of this, the steller's sea eagle has the largest beak followed by the philippine's monkey eagle, I am curius to know if beak strength is in proportion to size because it seems to be so in vultures (the vulture with the largest beak is the one with the strongest beak).
And eagles do get to eat through tough skin because those talons acctually pierce through skin and they are able to feast through the wounds.

Eagles are all have strong sharp beak to tear their prey not necessarily through the talon wounds. They can cut through any part of their prey, It's one of the main characteristics of an EAGLE. (Sharp curve beak)

Steller's sea eagle is not the ONLY eagle capable of eating salmon there are many fish eagles which also eat salmon like the white-tailed and Bald eagles and salmon is not the toughest skin or prey to feast on by the eagles as I have said Monitor lizards have more tougher skin than a salmon. -*IF you are using the salmon as a gauge for ripping prey.

Steller's sea eagle is the largest and most powerful eagle among the fish eagles.

Which eagle has the strongest beak?

I think the Philippine eagle and Steller's sea eagle has the largest and strongest beak. Steller's beak is large with a inverted frontal "V" shape while Philppine eagle's beak is also large but narrow like a dagger about 73.3 x 50.6 x 72.6 mm on AVERAGE size.
(Source: Haribon-The Largest Eagle in the World)

 

[Blubeak_2007]

Which eagle has the strongest beak?

By the size and shape...I'll go for the Philippine monkey-eating eagle.


Sharp large powerful bill.

 

[BrownnishSkua]

Eagles are all have strong sharp beak to tear their prey not necessarily through the talon wounds. They can cut through any part of their prey, It's one of the main characteristics of an EAGLE. (Sharp curve beak)

I am fully aware of the beaks of eagles. However, I would like to state that griffon vultures (e.g. cape grifoons) which have larger beaks than most eagles have difficulty tearing the hide of even small to meium size antelopes though its capable of puncturing the hide and feeding through the wounds and is still capable of ousting smaller eagles. The white-headed vulture (a smaller version of the lappet-faced vulture, which according to 'Vultures of Africa' by Peter Mundy is said to have the largest beak of any bird of prey (and strongest) can rip open the tougest hide of carcass of large animals except well-intact hide of girrafe, elephants, rhino, and hippo but is still capable of feasting through the wounds or it might be able to puncture the skin the way griffons do to antelopes) dominates over the smaller eagles can tear skin better than griffons but still has difficulty tearing the hide of larger carcasses (though able to puncture - there is a brief account of a white-headed vulture feeding on a live python though no one is sure of the condition, it does show the white-headed vulture is capable of tearing through the skin of raptiles. 'Raptors of the World' list monitor lizards in the prey range of lappet-faced vultures and white-headed vultures). And while some eagles have stronger beaks than some vultures, i believe their strong talons are capable of inflicting serious wounds on larger prey (e.g. antelopes) and by the time larger prey is brought down, there are enough wounds for the eagle to eat through though its capable of cutting through the skin of smaller prey (e.g. monkeys have thin skin). while eagles are capable of using their beaks to fight - its not as much as vultures (lappet-faced vultures, eurasian black vultures, white-headed vultures, and red-headed vultures use their beaks to kill as much as to tear tough hides and skin - after using impact and their feet to control and talons to cut not pierce like eagles do - just as eagles use their talons to kill).
I know there was a record of a philipinnes monkey eagle killing a python which is impressive.

Steller's sea eagle is not the ONLY eagle capable of eating salmon there are many fish eagles which also eat salmon like the white-tailed and Bald eagles and salmon is not the toughest skin or prey to feast on by the eagles as I have said Monitor lizards have more tougher skin than a salmon. -*IF you are using the salmon as a gauge for ripping prey.

Nope I am only using the salmon's skin as an example to demonstrate the beak strength of the settler's given its huge beak which is made for that. I am aware that raptiles skin are tougher though and even the martial eagle is capable of tearing through (probably after inflicting severe wounds on a large on), the philippines monkey eagle which has a beak which can be larger than most vultures are definately capable of tearing the skin of raptiles no doubt but a steller's sea eagle with a larger beak might not be far behind (I am aware the bald eagle and fish eagles are capable of that too).

Steller's sea eagle is the largest and most powerful eagle among the fish eagles.

I would like to add - the most aggressive of the fish eagles too though there is an account which says that the golden eagle often comes on top because it has is more aggressive.
I am surprise that he largest are often not the most aggressive though there was a brief scene on NGO regarding the fish eagle chasing off a golden eagle.

Which eagle has the strongest beak?

I think the Philippine eagle and Steller's sea eagle has the largest and strongest beak. Steller's beak is large with a inverted frontal "V" shape while Philppine eagle's beak is also large but narrow like a dagger about 73.3 x 50.6 x 72.6 mm on AVERAGE size.
(Source: Haribon-The Largest Eagle in the World)

Given the information you have obtained here, I am beginning to tink the steller's sea eagle might be able to tear through raptiles skin. How true are the accounts which say steller's sea eagles have difficulty tearing through salmon? I have read accounts which say otherwise and that huge beak is not to be look down upon.
I acknowledged that the steller's sea eagle is the one with the strongest beak of any fish eagle and on par with the philipinnes eagle.
Now regarding golden eagle, bald eagle, harpy eagle, crowned eagle, martial eagle and other big eagles where would their beak strength among the eagles?

 

[scuba0095]

i read somewhere i dont remember where but that the monkey eating eagle had a large beak but it lacked the power that other large eagles beaks have

 

[BrownnishSkua]

i read somewhere i dont remember where but that the monkey eating eagle had a large beak but it lacked the power that other large eagles beaks have

Would be interesting to read that as vultures seem to have stronger beaks in proportion to the size of their beaks.
I know there was a poster whom had said the harpy eagle acctually has a strongerbeka than the settler's sea eagles beak but I am awaiting for a little more info (both steller sea eagle and philippine's monkey eagle have beaks which are compressed).
I am beginning to think that beak strength is not only determined by size but also on how compressed they are.
The toucan's and hornbills beak are large but surprisingly light.

 

[BALAWE]

i read somewhere i dont remember where but that the monkey eating eagle had a large beak but it lacked the power that other large eagles beaks have

I am interested to know where you got or read it!
Please try to find it again!

Records show how powerful their beak are by the prey items it takes like a large python, king cobra, monitor lizards, a 30 lb small deer (probably) the the heaviest prey found up on its nest.

Regardless of what you have read I am CONVINCED that the Philippine eagle has one of the most powerful beak among birds of prey..

 

[BALAWE]

Found these pictures of PhilEagle at one of the forums, look at the huge sharp beak looks even bigger than any vultures beak. somebody even quoted saying Impressive! "looks like it could snap a deer's femur in one bite!"

 

[BrownnishSkua]

Found these pictures of PhilEagle at one of the forums, look at the huge sharp beak looks even bigger than any vultures beak. somebody even quoted saying Impressive! "looks like it could snap a deer's femur in one bite!"

As much as I acknowledged the impressiveness of the philipinne's monkey eagles beak, the lappet-faced vulture accrding to 'vultures of Africa' by Peter Mundy and a link which is now dead has the largest beak of any bird of prey.
There is acctually a pictures of comparison of bird pictures (not real pictures but drawings which look so real) in which the steller's sea eagles beak looks larger.

 

[scuba0095]

i agree the giant vultures have a larger more powerful bill then any eagle thats for sure and yeah the lapped faced vultures bill is the most powerful

 

[BALAWE]

As much as I acknowledged the impressiveness of the philipinne's monkey eagles beak, the lappet-faced vulture accrding to 'vultures of Africa' by Peter Mundy and a link which is now dead has the largest beak of any bird of prey.
There is acctually a pictures of comparison of bird pictures (not real pictures but drawings which look so real) in which the steller's sea eagles beak looks larger.

Originally posted by: Scuba0095-i agree the giant vultures have a larger more powerful bill then any eagle thats for sure and yeah the lapped faced vultures bill is the most powerful.

I'm not an expert in measuring the bite force or strength of birds of prey's beak but I'm sure overall eagles are much more powerful than Vultures especially with their legs, claws/talons and wings (taking a live prey) coz' they can carry large prey as large as deer and monkeys. Vulture's legs and claws are similar to the chicken in design made for walking.

I think eagles beak are at par or even sharper than Vulture's beak they can easily ripped-cut through the skin, muscles and ligaments of their prey.

Back to the tittle: Which eagle has the strongest beak?
As I have mentioned I think Philippine and Steller's eagles has the strongest beak among all the living eagles.

Pictures and drawings are not that reliable it depends on the angle of the picture taken which sometimes looks bigger or longer. IF we could get the Steller's sea eagle beak average measurement and the others for comparison It would be more accurate.

Philippine eagle's compressed beak which is unique in shape and size among birds of prey. (73.3 x 50.6 x 72.6 mm on AVERAGE size). Almost 3x the size of Harpy eagles beak and with a much larger skull.

Excerpt from: http://www.orientalbirdclub.org/publications/bullfeats/phleagle.html
= "The remarkability of the bird lay as much in its great taxonomic distinctiveness as in its size and success in avoiding discovery for so many years, and Ogilvie Grant's new genus, Pithecophaga, "monkey-eater", reflected the rather unusual food-habits Whitehead reported. He may well have assumed that this habit was directly related to the evolution of the bird's most notable character, namely "the extraordinary shape and size of the bill", the depth of which "is greater than that of any known bird of prey, except Pallas's [= Steller's] Sea-Eagle (Haliaëtus pelagicus), in which it is sometimes a trifle greater, while such extreme narrowness, compared with the depth, is quite unique in birds of this order". Although he thought the species most closely allied to the Harpy Eagle Harpia harpyja or to the genus Harpyhaliaetus, noting the similarity of structure and size of the legs, feet and talons of these birds, he found that in Pithecophaga "the skull is enormous, very much larger than that of the Harpy".

Cheers! B

 

[BrownnishSkua]

I'm not an expert in measuring the bite force or strength of birds of prey's beak but I'm sure overall eagles are much more powerful than Vultures especially with their legs, claws/talons and wings (taking a live prey) coz' they can carry large prey as large as deer and monkeys. Vulture's legs and claws are similar to the chicken in design made for walking.

Old world vultures acctually have feet more developed than that new world vultures and their talons can still cut. I agree with you that eagles kill larger prey generally and their feet and talons are more equiped for quick killing and carrying compared to vultures. However, according to 'Vultures of Africa' by Peter Mundy, the vultures feet are still strong although flat and made for running and while I have read a book that says vultures feet are made like chickens (other books say otherwise) and the most predatory vultures (though poor hunters compared to eagles) can stilll hold prey and food with their feet and cut with their talons and proceed to using their beaks to kill. The lammagier and palm nut vultures have eagle like talons. I agree that eagles are pound to pound stronger than most vultures though there are a few exceptions in my opinion (vultures do dominate eagles because of their larger size).

I think eagles beak are at par or even sharper than Vulture's beak they can easily ripped-cut through the skin, muscles and ligaments of their prey.

Vultures especially the lappet-faced vulture's and eurasian black vulture's beak is created to rip through the toughest carcase and while unable to rip through well intact carcase of elephant, girrafe, hippo, or rhino - it is at least able to rip through the thick hide of zebra and wildebeast (hide as tough or tougher than th skin of prey which eagles feed on and LPVs and WHVS are capable of ripping open the skin of raptiles with their beaks too) and those larger animals if wounded and that exceptionally strong beak exceeds that of all eagles (capable of ripping through ligament/hide/tedon of the carcasses of large animals with that strong compact/compressed beak).
The philippine's monkey eagle and steller's sea eagles beak are stronger than the beak of griffons though.
I will reply the rest of your post later and do wish that they would be a list of bit force of birds of prey.

 

[BrownnishSkua]

Back to the tittle: Which eagle has the strongest beak?
As I have mentioned I think Philippine and Steller's eagles has the strongest beak among all the living eagles.

Pictures and drawings are not that reliable it depends on the angle of the picture taken which sometimes looks bigger or longer. IF we could get the Steller's sea eagle beak average measurement and the others for comparison It would be more accurate.

Philippine eagle's compressed beak which is unique in shape and size among birds of prey. (73.3 x 50.6 x 72.6 mm on AVERAGE size). Almost 3x the size of Harpy eagles beak and with a much larger skull.

Excerpt from: http://www.orientalbirdclub.org/publications/bullfeats/phleagle.html
= "The remarkability of the bird lay as much in its great taxonomic distinctiveness as in its size and success in avoiding discovery for so many years, and Ogilvie Grant's new genus, Pithecophaga, "monkey-eater", reflected the rather unusual food-habits Whitehead reported. He may well have assumed that this habit was directly related to the evolution of the bird's most notable character, namely "the extraordinary shape and size of the bill", the depth of which "is greater than that of any known bird of prey, except Pallas's [= Steller's] Sea-Eagle (Haliaëtus pelagicus), in which it is sometimes a trifle greater, while such extreme narrowness, compared with the depth, is quite unique in birds of this order". Although he thought the species most closely allied to the Harpy Eagle Harpia harpyja or to the genus Harpyhaliaetus, noting the similarity of structure and size of the legs, feet and talons of these birds, he found that in Pithecophaga "the skull is enormous, very much larger than that of the Harpy".

Cheers! B

Sorry for my double post and late reply as I can't seem to copy and paste on this library computer and I would like to say that the lappet-faced vulture's beak approaches 10cm long and 5cm deep (Sources: 'Vultures of Africa' by Peter Mundy and Raptors of the World) which is much larger and stronger than the beak of any eagle, the eurasian black vulture has a longer but less massive beak by proportion and has a head as large as that of a red fox (someone posted the picture comparison on another forum.
Back to topic, I agree that the philipinne's monkey and steller's sea eagle have the strongest beaks and while eagles don't use their beaks to fight as much as vultures do, they do it once in a while (e.g. bald eagle occassionally using their beaks to finish off live prey and two bald eagles fighting resulting in the older eagle burrowing most of its beak into the chest of the younger eagle which requires a fair amount of stitches).
If a steller's sea eagle or philippine's monkey eagle were to acctually fight with a harpy eagle or crowned eagle, I wonder to what extant the larger beaks of the first two eagles would come into play as eagles use their talons before using their beaks.

 

[BALAWE]

Back to topic, I agree that the philipinne's monkey and steller's sea eagle have the strongest beaks and while eagles don't use their beaks to fight as much as vultures do, they do it once in a while (e.g. bald eagle occassionally using their beaks to finish off live prey and two bald eagles fighting resulting in the older eagle burrowing most of its beak into the chest of the younger eagle which requires a fair amount of stitches).

I beleived eagle's also use their beak as a primary weapon esp. when attacking large reptiles such as large snakes and monitor lizards these type of prey needs a quick bite to the head to subdue and to over-power these kind of prey power grip or talons (unless in the head) wouldn't be fast enough for a quick kill.

Besides Lappet-faced vultures evolved in ripping through thick tough skin * Quote " (hide as tough or tougher than the skin of prey which eagles feed on and LPVs and WHVS are capable of ripping open the skin of raptiles with their beaks too) Unquote."

The animals or carcasse the LPVs and WHVS which they feed on can never be found in the range or environment of the two eagles the Philippine and Steller's eagles we can never really say how they fair IF they too had access with these animals. (feeding on large thick skin animals) don't you think?

 

[BrownnishSkua]

I beleived eagle's also use their beak as a primary weapon esp. when attacking large reptiles such as large snakes and monitor lizards these type of prey needs a quick bite to the head to subdue and to over-power these kind of prey power grip or talons (unless in the head) wouldn't be fast enough for a quick kill.

I am glad we agree on something here . There are posters whom say that eagles never fight with their beaks. I am very sure the philippine's monkey eagle would use its beak when trying to kill a python. And the steller's sea eagles do snap at each other while fighting and they acctually prefer fighting over food rather than hunting because it consumes a lot of energy tearing open salmon according to the accounts I have read.

Besides Lappet-faced vultures evolved in ripping through thick tough skin * Quote " (hide as tough or tougher than the skin of prey which eagles feed on and LPVs and WHVS are capable of ripping open the skin of raptiles with their beaks too) Unquote."

The animals or carcasse the LPVs and WHVS which they feed on can never be found in the range or environment of the two eagles the Philippine and Steller's eagles we can never really say how they fair IF they too had access with these animals. (feeding on large thick skin animals) don't you think?

You are right a lot of the animals found in africa can never be found in the philippines (where the philippine's monkey eagle lives) or russia (where the steller's sea eagle lives). One thing for sure though is that africa also has pythons and there is a picture of lappet-faced vultures and white-headed vultures feeding on a dead python carcase and I acctually believe that those two large eagles have stronger beaks than the white-headed vulture (according to 'Vultures of Africa' by Peter Mundy - the white-headed vulture has difficulty tearing through hide and can't do it as easily as the lappet-faced vulture can) but the lappet-faced vulture with the largest beak is still the strongest and more powerful compared to both/all eagles (there are books saying that some vultures have exceptionally strong beaks).
On second thought, none of the prey in africa are found in the areas where the eurasian black vulture lives and it has the second strongest beak of all vultures and I believe the second strongest beak of all raptors.

P/S: I am glad to meet posters whom can challenge my opinions and studies and have learn a lot from you guys .

 

[BALAWE]

I am glad we agree on something here . There are posters whom say that eagles never fight with their beaks. I am very sure the philippine's monkey eagle would use its beak when trying to kill a python.




You are right a lot of the animals found in africa can never be found in the philippines (where the philippine's monkey eagle lives) or russia (where the steller's sea eagle lives). One thing for sure though is that africa also has pythons and there is a picture of lappet-faced vultures and white-headed vultures feeding on a dead python carcase and I acctually believe that those two large eagles have stronger beaks than the white-headed vulture (according to 'Vultures of Africa' by Peter Mundy - the white-headed vulture has difficulty tearing through hide and can't do it as easily as the lappet-faced vulture can) but the lappet-faced vulture with the largerst beak is still the strongest and more powerful compared to both eagles (there are books saying that some vultures have exceptionally strong beaks).
On second thought, none of the prey in africa are found in the areas where the eurasian black vulture lives and it has the second strongest beak of all vultures and I believe the second strongest beak of all raptors.

P/S: I am glad to meet posters whom can challenge my opinions and studies and have learn a lot from you guys .

Yup! But feeding on a dead rotting python carcass is far different than tackling a live large python which could go either way a predator or a prey.. This is where the Philippine eagle's supremacy comes, they regularly eat snakes not necessarily large pythons of course.

In my opinion Eagles are much superior than vultures in strength overall.

cheers!

 

[BrownnishSkua]

Yup! But feeding on a dead rotting python carcass is far different than tackling a live large python which could go either way a predator or a prey.. This is where the Philippine eagle's supremacy comes, they regularly eat snakes not necessarily large pythons of course.

I know it is different from tackling a live python, however, lappet-faced vultures and white-headed vultures are capable of tearing open the skin of fresh python carcase so I wouldn't generalise rotting (they prefer fresh carcase compare to that of rotting.
Anyway, according to 'Vultures of Africa' by Peter Mundy, there is a very brief account of a white-headed vulture feeding on a live python but it is not said what condition the python is in. Regardless they can still tear fresh python carcase.

In my opinion Eagles are much superior than vultures in strength overall.

I beg to differ a little, and yes eagles are stronger overall and pound to pound compared to most vultures, however, vultures generally have surperior size on average plus lappet-faced vultures and eurasian black vultures are ground scarppers the design of their beak which involves killing prey and feet allows them to charge and run on land yet still capable of grabbing something which eagles due to their feet (which are bigger than most eagles) design can't do (though eagles have pound to pound stronger grips) - the vultures can still kill the eagles (even the huge ones) if they manage to grip their risk and proceed to using their beaks to rip them apart. Smaller raptors seldom kill larger raptors though capable of mobbing them but I must say huge eagles would make deadly opponents especially in the air.
In conclusion, eagles are surperior killers and hunters and can use those long deadly talons to maximum advantage in the air. On land LPV and EBV would make superior ground scrappers compared to even huge eagles. Griffons could beat any eagle except similar size ones as the white-headed vulture (overlaps in weight or slightly smaller compared to the martial eagle).
Those vultures are no stranger to aerial combat and are involved in talon lock and tumbling through the sky during mating season and territorial display like eagles.

cheers!

Cheers! Hopefully, we can agree to disagree and move on to another discussion (say corvids interaction with kestrels, falcons, hawks, etc), there is a video of a jackdaw acctually holding its own against a female kestrel in a nest box and the corvid manage to grab the raptor's wrist and peck and its talons though at one point the kestrel managed to grab the jackdaw with its talons and even pinned it down yet it didn't kill the jackdaw which surprised me - its on youtube.

 

[BALAWE]

I agree in some of what you have said But I dont think any Vultures would dare to challenge a large eagle say like Harpy or Philippine eagles,which will never happen coz' they never cross path in the wild. they are not designed to hunt like eagles they are more of scavengers (with important role to the eco-system) their legs are weak as some expert say they are made for walking like the chicken. Some expert doesn't even consider them as part of the Birds of prey family but that's another topic.