| Buteogallus daggetti Temporal range: Pleistocene | |
|---|---|
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| An Artist’s illustration of Buteogallus daggetti hunting a snake | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| clade: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Accipitridae |
| Genus: | Buteogallus |
| Species: | †B. daggetti |
Buteogallus daggetti, also known as the walking eagle or the Daggett’s eagle, was a species of long-legged hawk which lived in what is now known as southwest North America during the Pleistocene period. Thought to be an ancestor of modern savannah hawks, they were also initially thought to be some sort of carrion-eating bird. Now, they are considered hunters in a similar fashion to modern Secretary Birds, using their long legs to stomp prey.
For a time, the species was placed in the distinct genus Wetmoregyps. However, classifying its species further has replaced it with the genus Buteogallus.
Description[]
In life, B. daggetti is thought to have resembled the related savanna hawk, another bird of the genus Buteogallus. It had long legs, hence the nickname “walking eagle”. These long legs were possibly used to hunt small reptiles, like the secretary bird, while using them to hunt animals as large as ostriches. However, compared to the modern Savannah Hawk, it is some 40% larger.
It was first described by the scientist Loye Holmes Miller after discovering a giant bone found in the La Brea Tar Pits. Impressed by the bone’s long length, even larger than the bones of the Great Blue Heron, Miller studied it, and soon he described that it belonged to no more like “a bird on stilts.”