The Hraesvelgur Eagle | Tokota Handler Species

Behold, the species of my and alexpeanut's bird handlers, Huginn and Muninn :'D They needed a better size reference than what I'm currently using, and a decent non-atmospheric-hazed colour reference, so here we are! Feel free to make your own; they were designed to be big enough to be Tokotas handlers for those times when you don't want to human, but you could do whatever you like really. They were inspired by the island gigantism exhibited by Haast's Eagle, which lived in the South Island of New Zealand and fed on moa, and was the real largest eagle ever to have existed. More details below!

Yes I did just reuse my own lineart, shush.

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Hraesvelgur Eagle

Haliaeetus devorimors

The Hraesvelgur Eagle (Old Norse Hræsvelgr "Corpse Swallower" after the mythological giant) is a bird of prey native only to Svalbard and Franz Josef Land, now introduced to much of the Arctic Circle. A sea eagle and the largest eagle ever to have lived, it preys primarily on fish, juvenile dolphins, seal cubs and bear cubs, and has diversified into deer and wolves on the continents.

The plumage resembles that of the rough-legged buzzard, being predominantly brown in colour with white underparts and often showing a high degree of speckling and barring. There is great variation between individuals, but most plumages have a darker chest band, darker wing "arms" with very dark wrists and feather tips on both wings and tail, with barred white on the rest of the wings and tail. Leucistic and melanistic morphs are seen in the species, the brown being transformed into a light buff colour with less barring coverage in leucistics, and into black with much more solid coverage in melanistics. Eyes are light gold in the juvenile, darkening to deep orange at maturity - except for leucistic morphs, which remain the same. The beak is proportional and hooked, with a yellow cere; the feet are yellow and the leg feathering reaches them.

Stats

Key: Minimum-Maximum (Avg. male, Avg. female) || Imperial conversions
Height: 90-115cm (100cm, 110cm) || 2'5"-3'9" (3'3", 3'7")
Length: 135-175cm (148cm, 165cm) || 4'5"-5'9" (4'10", 5'4")
Wingspan: 300-380cm (330cm, 360cm) || 9'10"-12'5" (10'10", 11'9")
Weight: 17-22kg (19kg, 21kg) || 37-48lbs (40lbs, 46lbs)

Golden eagle image traced for standing eagle because I can't eagle at short notice; available under a CC license.

Species © Horsepoint/KanaScott and alexpeanut