[6] The ornate hawk-eagle female lays almost always a single egg and the species has a fairly prolonged breeding cycle like many tropical raptors, especially due to a lengthy post-fledging stage on which juveniles are dependent on their parents.

[1] The ornate hawk-eagle is a member of the booted eagle subfamily, with the signature well-feathered tarsus present on both tropical and temperate species (and shared, presumably through convergent evolution, with a pair of buteonine hawks).

[6][22] Furthermore, all ornate hawk-eagles bear a long erectile crest, which may variously be laid flat against the head, protrude straight up like a spike or sometimes hang at a slight curve.

Some juvenile ornate hawk-eagles do, however, show variable, light dark brown barring and spotting on the flanks and thighs, at even may manifest a vestigial moustache on the face.

The subadult's face is a sandy to pale rufous color with an indistinct malar stripe, while the flanks, belly and legs increasingly start to manifest barring and spotting.

[5][6][18][22] Adults have orangish-yellow eyes, with a dull greenish to grey color on the cere and bare lores, while the feet are rich cream to pale yellow.

[6] The flying ornate hawk-eagle is prominent headed with short, broad rounded wings that show an emphasis on the bulging secondaries and pinch in at the bases of the trailing edges.

Below, the juvenile's wings have scattered spots on the axillaries and great wing-coverts, blackish tips to the white based outer primaries and thin barring on the other flight feathers, at times matching the patterning of the tail.

By the second year, there is an only moderate increase to the flecks and spots on the wing linings, as the flight feathers and tail are the last to molt away from the juvenile-like look to those like adults.

[6] The species ranges as far north as southeastern Mexico, where it is found on the Caribbean slope from southern Tamaulipas, on Pacific more infrequently in Jalisco and east Oaxaca.

[38][39] The species is found almost continuously through Central America in Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua into Costa Rica and Panama (including the isle of Coiba).

[1][6] Despite its wide distribution, the species is frequently quite uncommon to increasingly rare in several parts of the range, though can outnumber other eagles (apart from the slightly more adaptable black hawk-eagle).

[6][15] Some records indicate that the ornate hawk-eagle may persist on tracts of forest down to only 200 ha (490 acres) but usually such extensive deforestation causes the species to vacate the area.

[55] In general, a picture has emerged that the ornate hawk-eagle is a particularly opportunistic predator, attracted to conspicuous prey behaviors and less deeply searching in its foraging than most co-existing forest eagles.

[8] At a slightly smaller dietary study of the southern part of the Atlantic forest of Brazil found that 90% of 30 prey items were birds, principally brown tinamou (Crypturellus obsoletus) (33.3%), Leptotila doves (10%), dusky-legged guan and green-barred woodpecker (Colaptes melanochloros) (both 6.67%).

[62] More secondary avian prey recorded for ornate hawk-eagles includes cuckoos, potoos, rails, trumpeters, herons and egrets, vultures, owls, kingfishers, motmots and hoatzins (Opisthocomus hoazin).

[8] At a single nest in Henri Pittier National Park, Venezuela, without presented metrics, rodents and mammals were observed to outnumber birds in the diet, namely the red-tailed squirrel (Sciurus granatensis) and cotton rats (Sigmodon ssp.).

[66] Among mammals, these medium to fairly large rodents regardless of whether they show terrestrial (agoutis and similar species) or arboreal (tree squirrels) tendencies make up the largest known portion of the food, perhaps most key being partially diurnal habits.

[76][77][78][79][80] Due to the range of predators that they attract given their relatively smaller size, monkeys in the neotropics are highly wary and have well-developed anti-predator defenses, especially a variety of alarm calls, grouping techniques, great arboreal agility and aggressive defensive attacks by top males, all of which make monkeys more difficult to attack than more solitary, terrestrial and/or slower-moving mammal prey of similar size.

[6] In the large study of Tikal, Guatemala, the size of prey items was estimated to weigh from 50 g (1.8 oz) for the Jamaican fruit bat to 4.1 kg (9.0 lb) for the great curassow (Crax rubra).

[15][20] These include the aforementioned great curassow and the ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocellata), of which the ornate hawk-eagle is capable of taking adults weighing 5 kg (11 lb) or more.

[105] The Tikal studies shows evidence of pairs shifting their territorial boundaries, in some cases this has been apparently and surprisingly due to the intrusion of another ornate hawk-eagle.

[20] Meanwhile, in the Manaus area of Brazil egg laying peaks in August, although copulation has been witnessed as long before than as in June, which may imply a particularly prolonged courtship stage.

[20][104] Both prior to egg laying and during incubation, the female of the pair often collects green leaves to line the nest bowl, doing so nearly every day both in Guatemala and the Manaus area of Brazil.

Vultures seem to provoke an aggressive response in different parts of the range, consisting of the female raising her crest, mantling over her egg and calling loudly.

The young eagles often continue to beg loudly for food, especially once their parents are in view, but if their crop is full they often retire to quietly sit in dense foliage.

In one case from Brazil, the juvenile eagle was observed to fly up to greet one of its parents and grabbed the prey item without landing before continuing to a nearby perch.

It is thought to have gone extinct early due to increased extensive 19th century colonization in Tumbes, Peru as well as the Belém and probably the São Francisco regions of Brazil.

For example, studies in Tikal, Guatemala showed that 49.4% of the biomass at ornate hawk-eagle nests was overlapping with the wild animals most extensively hunted by local humans (i.e., cracids, agoutis, squirrels).

Due to the causes of wild prey competition and predation of domestic fowl, humans frequently target and shot this and other eagles on sight, even without direct provocation.