About the Steller's Sea Eagle
Steller's sea eagle, also known as the Pacific sea eagle or white-shouldered eagle, is a very large diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It was described first by Peter Simon Pallas in 1811. No subspecies are recognised. A sturdy eagle, it has dark brown plumage with white wings and tail, a yellow beak, and yellow talons. Typically, it is the heaviest eagle in the world, at about 5 to 10 kg, but in some other standard measurements, may be smaller than the harpy eagle and the Philippine eagle. Steller's sea eagle females are bigger than males, as in other raptors.
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ID tip
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.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where the Steller's Sea Eagle lives
Recorded as a rare visitor in United States, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Finland.
When to see the Steller's Sea Eagle
Peak activity in February · a winter visitor species across most of its range
Easily confused with
Pallas's Fish EagleHaliaeetus leucoryphusThe Pallas's fish eagle has a light sandy-brown hood and a whitish face.
White-tailed EagleHaliaeetus albicillaGiven reasonable view, adult white-tailed eagles are difficult to mistake for any other bird.
Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalusThe plumage of an adult bald eagle is evenly dark brown with a white head and tail.
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