THE little boy, should he remember, will have a story for the rest of his life about the day he took on Australia's largest bird of prey and sent it into retirement.

Nonami, a wedge-tailed eagle of three years' performance training, was flying in the noon bird show at Sydney's Taronga Zoo when it suddenly veered off course.

Two-metre wing span ... Nonami has been removed from shows at the zoo. Credit:Channel Seven

Deviating from her prepared flight-path, she instead landed on an 18-month-old boy, who was visiting on Saturday with his family.

The impact of Nonami - the bird is seven-years-old and has a wingspan of two metres - left the child with a gash on the head.