The harpy eagle is a neotropical species of eagle. The call is the strong, silent type, harpy eagles do not vocalize much. When heard, they wail (wheee, wheee-ooooo), croak, whistle, click, and mew. It is also called the American harpy eagle to distinguish it from the Papuan eagle, which is sometimes known as the New Guinea harpy eagle or Papuan harpy eagle. It is the largest and most powerful raptor found throughout its range, and among the largest extant species of eagles in the world. It usually inhabits tropical lowland rainforests in the upper canopy layer. Destruction of its natural habitat has caused it to vanish from many parts of its former range, and it is nearly extirpated from much of Central America. In Brazil, the harpy eagle is also known as royal hawk. This species is largely silent away from the nest. 

There, the adults give a penetrating, weak, melancholy scream, with the incubating males' call described as "whispy screaming or wailing". The females' calls while incubating are similar but are lower-pitched. While approaching the nest with food, the male calls out "rapid chirps, goose-like calls, and occasional sharp screams". Vocalization in both parents decreases as the age of nestlings, while the nestlings become more vocal. The nestlings call chi-chi-chi...chi-chi-chi-chi, seemingly an alarm in response to rain or direct sunlight. When humans approach the nest, the nestlings have been described as uttering croaks, quacks, and whistles.

Rare throughout its range, the harpy eagle is found from Mexico, through Central America, and into South America to as far south as Argentina. In rainforests, they live in the emergent layer. The eagle is most common in Brazil, where it is found across the entire national territory. With the exception of some areas of Panama, the species is almost extinct in Central America, subsequent to the logging of much of the rainforest there. The Harpy Eagle is the largest, most powerful raptor in the Americas, bigger even than the Golden Eagle.