Steller's Sea Eagle
Haliaeetus pelagicus
Mature H. pelagicus eagles have mostly dark brown to black plumage, with strongly contrasting white on the lesser and median upper-wing coverts, under-wing coverts, thighs, under-tail coverts, and tail. Their diamond-shaped, white tails are relatively longer than those of the white-tailed eagle. The bold, pied coloration of adults may play some part in social hierarchies with other eagles of their own species during the nonbreeding season, although this has not been extensively studied. A very rare dark morph, once regarded as a separate subspecies, H. p. Voice: Steller's sea eagle is known to make a deep barking cry, ra-ra-ra-raurau. In aggressive interactions, its call is similar to the white-tailed eagles, but deeper. During the display at the beginning of the breeding season, they have been heard to make calls to each other that sound like very loud, deep-voiced gulls.
ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
White-tailed Eagle
Haliaeetus albicilla
Given reasonable view, adult white-tailed eagles are difficult to mistake for any other bird. There are no other eagles with fully white tails in their range except for in the easternmost limits of their range, their cousins the bald eagle and Steller's sea eagle, which in adults are different in all other respects of plumage. Even in poor light, the bald species shows a sharp demarcation from white to dark brown whereas the colour contrast is far subtler in white-tailed eagles between their brown body (of a paler hue than that of a bald eagle) and buff-coloured head. Voice: The white-tailed eagle is considered a vocal bird of prey during the breeding season, although some authors consider their voice "not loud or impressive for the size of the bird". The male call is oft transcribed as gri-gri-gri or krick-krick-krick, while the female is a deeper gra-gra-gra-gra or krau-krau-krau-krau. These will increase in tempo and pitch, with about 15–30 calls in a sequence.
ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Where you might meet both
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Play today's Daily BirdPhotos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Steller's Sea Eagle and White-tailed Eagle.