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Steller's sea eagle

Steller's sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus), also known as 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 (11 to 22 lb), but in some standard measurements, may be ranked below the harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) and the Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi).[4]

Steller's sea eagle
A Steller's sea eagle near Rausu, Hokkaido, Japan
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Haliaeetus
Species:
H. pelagicus
Binomial name
Haliaeetus pelagicus
(Pallas, 1811)
  breeding only
  resident all year
  winter only
  vagrant range
Synonyms[3]
  • Aquila pelagica (Pallas, 1811)
  • Thalassaetus pelagicus (Pallas)
  • Falco leucopterus (Temminck, 1824)
  • Falco imperator (Kittlitz, 1832)

The Steller's sea eagle is endemic to Northeast Asia, where it lives in Russia, Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan. Steller's sea eagle lives in coastal northeastern Asia and mainly preys on fish and water birds. The Kamchatka Peninsula in Far Eastern Russia is known for its relatively large population of these birds; about 4,000 of these eagles live there.[5] Steller's sea eagle is listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List (IUCN Red List) of threatened species. Steller's sea eagle females are bigger than males.

Taxonomy Edit

This species was described initially as Aquila pelagica by Prussian naturalist Peter Simon Pallas, in 1811.[6] The species name is the Ancient Greek pelagos, "the open sea/ocean".[7] Dutch naturalist Coenraad Jacob Temminck named it Falco leucopterus, "white winged eagle", in 1824,[8] and Heinrich von Kittlitz called it Falco imperator in 1832.[9] George Robert Gray moved the species into the genus Haliaeetus in 1849.[10]

"Steller's sea eagle" has been designated the official name by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU).[11] It is named after the German naturalist, Georg Wilhelm Steller.[12] It also is known as Steller's fish eagle, Pacific sea eagle, or white-shouldered eagle.[4] In Russian, the eagle has been called morskoi orel (sea eagle), pestryi morskoi orel (mottled sea eagle), or beloplechii orlan (white-shouldered eagle). In Japanese, it is called ō-washi (large eagle or great eagle).[13] In Korean, the eagle is called chamsuri (true eagle). In Mandarin, it is called hǔtóu hǎidiāo (tiger-headed sea eagle).

A 1996 analysis of the cytochrome b gene of mitochondrial DNA showed that Steller's sea eagles diverged from a lineage that gave rise to the bald eagle and white-tailed eagle around 3-4 million years ago. All three of these species have yellow eyes, beaks, and talons, unlike their next-closest relative, Pallas's fish eagle.[14]

H. pelagicus is monotypic, although a dubious subspecies has been named; H. p. niger.[15] The latter name was given to the population that lacked white feathers except for the tail, and may have resided all year in Korea. Last seen in 1968 and long believed to be extinct, a female matching H. p. niger in appearance was hatched in captivity in the Bayerischen Jagdfalkenhof (Germany) in 2001 and subsequently transferred to Tierpark Berlin. Both her parents had typical coloration, indicating that H. p. niger is an extremely rare dark morph rather than a valid subspecies, as had been suggested earlier.[16][17] One of the offspring of the dark Berlin female, a male hatched in 2014 that now lives in Skandinavisk Dyrepark (Denmark), also is a dark morph.[18]

Description Edit

Size Edit

 
A falconer holding a Steller's sea eagle in England

Steller's sea eagle is the largest bird in the genus Haliaeetus and is one of the largest raptors overall. Females vary in weight from 6.2 to 9.5 kg (14 to 21 lb), while males are rather lighter with a weight range of 4.9 to 6.8 kg (11 to 15 lb).[4][19][20] The typical weight is variable, possibly due to seasonal variation in food access or general condition of eagles, but has been reported as high as a mean weight of 7.75 kg (17.1 lb) to a median estimate weight of 6.25 kg (13.8 lb), excluding expired eagles that were poisoned by lead and endured precipitous weight loss by the occasion of their deaths.[4][19][20][21][22]

At its average weight, the Steller's seems to outweigh the average harpy by around 0.5 kg (1.1 lb) and the average Philippine eagles by more than 1 kg (2.2 lb).[4][20][23] Steller's sea eagle can range in total length from 85 to 105 cm (2 ft 9 in to 3 ft 5 in). Apparently, males average about 89 cm (2 ft 11 in) in length, while females average about 100 cm (3 ft 3 in), marginally shorter on average than the harpy eagle and about 65 mm (2.6 in) shorter than the Philippine eagle.[4][21]

The wingspan is from 1.95 to 2.50 m (6 ft 5 in to 8 ft 2 in) and the wing chord measurement is 560 to 680 mm (22 to 27 in).[4][13][24] The sea eagle's wingspan is one of the largest of any living eagle, at a median of 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) per Ferguson-Lees (2001) or a median of 2.2 m (7 ft 3 in) per Saito (2009).[4][21] Steller's sea eagles' absolute maximum wingspan is less certain; many sources place it at up to 2.45 m (8 ft 2 in).[25][26] However, less substantiated records indicate that it may also reach even greater wingspans. Three separate sources claim unverified Steller's sea eagles spanning up to 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in), 2.74 m (9 ft 0 in), and 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in), respectively. If true, this would be the largest wingspan of any eagle.[27][28][29]

Steller's sea eagle is unique among all sea eagles in having a yellow beak even in juvenile birds, and possessing 14, not 12, rectrices.[14]

Standard measurements and physiology Edit

 
Detail of head of a Steller's sea eagle in the Cincinnati Zoo, United States
 
Close-up of feet with hooked sharp talons

As in most Haliaeetus eagles, the tarsus and tail are relatively short compared to other very large eagles at 95–100 mm (3.7–3.9 in) and 320–390 mm (13–15 in) in length, respectively, with the Philippine eagle surpassing it by up to 40 mm (1.6 in) and 110 mm (4.3 in), apparently.[4][30] In all sea and fish eagles, the toes are relatively short and stout, with the bottom of the foot covered in spicules and the talons being relatively shorter and more strongly curved than in comparably sized eagles of forests and fields, such as the "booted eagle" group (i.e. Aquila) or "harpy eagles". All of these specializations developed in the aid of capturing fish rather than medium-sized mammals and large birds, although, clearly these are not excluded from capture.[4][30]

As in all fish and sea eagles, as well as the majority of the world's fish-eating raptors, Steller's sea eagle has spicules, which are bumpy waves all along the bottom of their feet, which allow them to hold fish that may otherwise slip out of their grasp.[4] The feet are very powerful despite not bearing talons as long as those of a harpy eagle. In one case, a wildlife veterinarian was badly injured when a female eagle grabbed his arm and embedded her talons, piercing through to the other side of his arm.[31]

The bill is large. The skull is around 14.6 cm (5.7 in) in total length, the culmen is from 62 to 75 mm (2.4 to 3.0 in), and the bill from the gape to the tip is around 117 mm (4.6 in).[32][33] A Steller's sea eagle's bill is probably the largest of any living eagle, just surpassing to the Philippine eagle with a sole known culmen measurement (from a mature female) of 72.2 mm (2.84 in), and are similar in robustness (if slightly shorter in culmen length) to those of the largest accipitrids, the Old World vultures.[4][32][34]

Plumage Edit

 
Adult of the rare dark morph in Tierpark Berlin, Germany: Before the hatching of this female, which had "normal" parents, the dark morph was considered a separate subspecies.[16][17]

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.[35] 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.[4][30] A very rare dark morph, once regarded as a separate subspecies, H. p. niger, lacks white in its plumage, except for the tail.[16][17] The eyes, bill, and feet of adults are yellow.[4]

The downy plumage of chicks is silky white on hatching, though it soon turns a smoky brown-grey. As in other sea eagles, remiges and rectrices of the first-year plumage are longer than those of adults. Juvenile plumage is largely a uniform dark soot-brown with occasional grey-brown streaking about the head and the neck, white feather bases, and light mottling on the rectrices. The tail of the immature eagle is white with black mottling distally.[22][30] The young Steller's sea eagle has dark brown irises, whitish legs, and blackish-brown beak. Through at least three intermediate plumages, mottling in the tail decreases, body and wing feathering acquires a bronze cast, and the eyes and bill lighten in colour.[13] Definitive plumage is probably reached in the fourth to fifth year of life, based on data from captives. Young of the typical morph and the rare dark morph are alike. The difference only becomes clear once they have gained the adult plumage.[18]

First and intermediate plumages are difficult to distinguish from those of the white-tailed eagle, which co-occurs in the entire breeding range of H. pelagicus, but beyond their bulkier, larger overall form, they can fairly reliably be distinguished at reasonable range by their considerably more massive bill and their darker and more uniform body plumage. This is not to mention the differing shape of the Steller's diamond-shaped tail and wings (paddle-like in Steller's against the square-looking wings of the white-tailed), especially in flight, as well as a generally distinct under-wing pattern.[13]

Voice Edit

Steller's sea eagle is known to make a deep barking cry, ra-ra-ra-raurau. In aggressive interactions, its call similar to the white-tailed eagles, but deeper.[30] During the display at the beginning of the breeding season, they have been heard to make calls to each that sound like very loud, deep-voiced gulls.[30][36]

Distribution and habitat Edit

 
Adult in the Magadan Nature Reserve, Russia, a part of the species' breeding range

Steller's sea eagle breeds on the Kamchatka Peninsula, the coastal area around the Sea of Okhotsk, the lower reaches of the Amur River, and on northern Sakhalin and the Shantar Islands, Russia. Many eagles migrate from breeding grounds to Korea, Japan, and China in winter. Most birds winter south of their breeding range, in the southern Kuril Islands, Russia, and Hokkaidō, Japan. Steller's sea eagle is less prone to vagrancy than the white-tailed eagle, as it lacks the long-range dispersal typical of juveniles of that species,[37][38] but vagrant eagles have been found in North America at locations including the Pribilof Islands and Kodiak Island, as well as Texas, Nova Scotia, Massachusetts, and Maine (the latter four all being a single individual)[39] and inland in Asia to as far as Beijing in China and Yakutsk in Russia's Sakha Republic, and south to as far as Taiwan.[30][40]

The large body size (see also Bergmann's rule) and distribution of Steller's sea eagle suggests it is a glacial relict, meaning it evolved in a narrow subarctic zone of the northeasternmost Asian coasts, which shifted its latitude according to ice age cycles, and never occurred anywhere else. Their nests are built on large, rocky outcroppings or at the tops of large trees on the coast and alongside large rivers with mature trees. Habitat with large Erman's birches (Betula ermanii) and floodplain forests of larches, alders, willows, and poplars are preferred. Some eagles, especially those that nest on seacoasts, may not migrate. The timing, duration, and extent of migration depends on ice conditions and food availability.

On Kamchatka, eagles overwinter in forests and river valleys near the coast, but are irregularly distributed over the peninsula. Most wintering birds there appear to be residential adults. Steller's sea eagles that do migrate fly south to winter in rivers and wetlands in Japan, but occasionally move to mountainous inland areas as opposed to the seacoast. Each winter, drifting ice on the Sea of Okhotsk drives thousands of eagles south. Ice reaches Hokkaido in late January.

Eagle numbers peak in the Nemuro Strait in late February. On Hokkaido, eagles concentrate in coastal areas and on lakes near the coast, along with substantial numbers of white-tailed eagles. Eagles depart between late March and late April, with adults typically leaving before immatures. Migrants tend to follow seacoasts and are usually observed flying singly. In groups, migrants are typically observed flying 100–200 m (330–660 ft) apart. On Kamchatka, most migrants are birds in transitional plumages. They are also occasionally seen flying over the northern ocean or perching on sea ice during the winter.[13][40]

Steller's Sea eagle occasionally turns up in western Alaska. In December 2021, for the first time, one had been documented in the lower 48 states, first on the Taunton River in Massachusetts and then in Georgetown, Maine.[41][42]

Vagrancy Edit

A single individual has been moving around North America, having first been seen on August 30, 2020, near Denali National Park in Alaska.[43] Subsequently, a Steller's sea eagle was photographed in Victoria, TX, not long after a winter storm blew into the state. This sighting has been verified by the Texas Bird Records Committee and is presumed to be the same individual as seen in Denali, though the photos are not sufficient to establish this identity.[44] This was the first record of the species in the contiguous United States. The sea eagle was then confirmed in several locations in New Brunswick, Quebec, and Nova Scotia throughout the summer and into November. In December, it was spotted on the Taunton River in Massachusetts and then moved north to the Maine coast (Georgetown, Boothbay, and Pemaquid).[45] More recently, it was seen on the east side on Newfoundland on April 22, 2022.[46] In early 2023, this individual was spotted again in Maine along the shores of Georgetown.[47] Marks on the wing indicate that all these sightings are of the same individual.[48]

Diet Edit

 
Steller's sea eagles near Rausu, Hokkaido, in Japan: catching a fish (top) and carrying a fish (bottom)

Steller's sea eagle mainly feed on fish. Their favored prey in river habitats are salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) and trout.[49] Among these, pink salmon (O. gorbuscha) and chum salmon (O. keta) are reportedly favored, sometimes intensely supplemented by grayling (Thymallus sp.) and three-spined stickleback (Gastrossteus aculeatus).[50] While pink and chum salmon average approximately 2.2 and 5 kg (4.9 and 11.0 lb) in mature mass, respectively, Steller's sea eagle not infrequently preys on fish up to 6 to 7 kg (13 to 15 lb).[32] In coastal areas, nesting eagles may feed on Bering wolffish (Anarchichas orientalis), Hemitripterus villosus, smooth lumpfish (Aptocyclus ventricosus), and Myoxocephalus spp.[50] Like most Haliaeetus eagles, they hunt fish almost exclusively in shallow water. Relatively large numbers of these normally solitary birds can be seen congregating on particularly productive spawning rivers in August through September due to an abundant food supply.[40]

On Kamchatka, aggregations of as many as 700 eagles have been reported, though much smaller groups are the norm.[13] In summer, live fish, typically in the range of 20 to 30 cm (7.9 to 11.8 in) in length, are fed to the young at the nest. Normally, the parents catch about two or three fish for the young to eat each day. In autumn, when many salmon die after spawning, dead fish tend to be consumed more often than live ones, and these are the main food for Steller's sea eagles that overwinter in inland rivers with unfrozen waters.[30]

On Hokkaido, eagles are attracted by abundant Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus), which peak in the Rausu Sea and the Nemuro Straits in February. This resource supports an important commercial fishery, which, in turn, helps to support eagles.[13] Alaska pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus), along with the cod, is the most important food source for wintering eagles in Japan.[4] These eagles may walk boldly within a few feet of fishermen when both are capturing fish during winter, but only familiar ones they have encountered previously. They behave warily and keep their distance if strangers are present.[31]

 
Alaska pollock, one of the primary food sources for Steller's sea eagles in their wintering range in Japan
 
Slaty-backed gull, one of the primary avian species hunted by this eagle

Fish make up about 80% of the diet of eagles nesting in the Amur River; elsewhere, other prey form almost an equal proportion of the diet.[13] Along the sea coast and in Kamchatka, water birds are the most common prey. Water birds taken by this species include ducks, geese, swans, cranes, herons, and gulls.[51] They also show a strong local preference for slaty-backed gulls (Larus schistisagus).[51]

Common and thick-billed murres (Uria aalge and U. lomvia, respectively) dominated the diet around the Sea of Okhotsk, followed by black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), slaty-backed gulls, crested auklets (Aethia cristatella), and pelagic cormorants (Phalacrocorax pelagicus).[50] Small chicks of murres and cormorants were sometimes taken alive in Russia and brought back to nests, where they independently fed on remains of fish in the eagles' nests until they were killed themselves.[50] In Russia, upland grouse, such as black-billed capercaillie (Tetrao parvirostris) and willow and rock ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus & L. muta) can be an important prey species; grouse are not typically taken by other Haliaeetus species.[30][52] Other landbirds hunted by Steller's sea eagles have included short-eared owls (Asio flammeus), snowy owl (Bubo scandiaca), carrion crow (Corvus corone), and common raven (Corvus corax), as well as (rarely) smaller passerines.[50] In one case, a Steller's sea eagle was observed feeding on a great albatross (genus Diomedea), a rare vagrant from the sub-Antarctic oceans.[4] This sea eagle may supplement its diet with various mammals (especially hares[4][30]), crabs, mussels, Nereis worms, and squid when given the opportunity.[50][25]

Mammalian carnivores are apparently readily hunted. Those recorded as prey have included sable (Martes zibellina), American mink (Neogale vison), Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), and small domestic dogs (Canis familiaris).[30][50] Smaller mammals have also been recorded as prey, including northern red-backed vole (Clethrionomys rutilus) and tundra vole (Microtus oeconomus).[50] Carrion, especially that of mammals, is readily eaten during the winter. Around 35% of eagles wintering in Japan move inland and feed largely on mammalian carcasses, predominantly sika deer (Cervus nippon).[53] In winter, immature Steller's sea eagles may frequent slaughterhouses to pirate bits of offal.[30] This eagle has been recorded preying occasionally on young seals. It was estimated in one study (Brown & Amadon), that some seal pups carried off in flight by the eagles weighed at least 9.1 kg (20 lb), which (if true) would be the greatest load-carrying ever known for a bird; however, the prey weights were not verified.[54] Often seals and sea lion of any size are eaten as carrion and, using the huge bill, may be dismembered where found rather than flown with.[55]

Steller's sea eagles hunt most commonly from a perch in a tree or rocky ledge located 5–30 m (16–98 ft) above the water, although they may also hunt on the wing, while circling 6–7 m (20–23 ft) above the water. Once located, prey is captured by diving. Eagles sometimes hunt by standing in or near shallow water on a sandbank, spit, or ice-floe, grabbing passing fish. Compared with its white-tailed and bald eagle relatives, Steller's sea eagle reportedly is a more "aggressive, powerful, and active" raptor.[30] Where feeding occurs in groups, kleptoparasitism is common. Kleptoparasitism is most beneficial in procuring food during periods of food abundance and in large feeding aggregations. Immatures use kleptoparasitism as much as adults, but are attacked more often by adults than birds of similar age. Adults appear to benefit most from this behavior. The bold color patterns of adults may be an important signal influencing the formation of feeding groups. However, a video from Russia shows a juvenile Steller's sea eagle aggressively displacing an adult from food during a protracted battle.[56] Outside the breeding period, these eagles probably roost communally near their feeding sites. When salmon and trout are dying in winter after their summer spawning, feeding groups of Steller's sea eagles may mix with smaller golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) and white-tailed eagles to exploit this food source. This area is the only one in the golden eagle's nearly circumpolar range where they are extensively dependent on fish for prey.[57]

Kleptoparasitism is sometimes recorded within the species. Occasionally, the smaller species may steal a fish away from the Steller's, especially if it is distracted by aggression from conspecifics, and both juvenile and adult Steller's may lose fish to the smaller species even face-to-face, especially a less assertive bird, such as immature Steller's. One video shows a golden eagle engaging an immature Steller's in a conflict and ultimately displacing it after maintaining a superior grip despite its smaller size.[58] In other cases, the Steller's have been photographed coming away with the prey after using its superior size to dominate, usually by bearing down its mass and large bill over the smaller eagles.[59][60][61] Cinereous vultures (Aegypius monachus) and bearded vultures (Gypaetus barbatus) are the only larger rational birds that a Steller's sea eagle may encounter in the wild.

In other cases, the three eagle species have been observed to feed in close proximity and seem to be outwardly indifferent to each other's presence. In inland areas, where golden, bald, and white-tailed eagles compete over food sources which are not as abundant as these fish and, more importantly, compete for nesting ranges, aggressive interspecies competition can be more common.[13] White-tailed eagles and golden eagles have even killed one another in Scotland, in cases of competition for abutting nesting ranges.[57] As in many sea and fish eagles, Steller's sea eagle may attempt to steal (and occasionally succeed in procuring) fish from osprey (Pandion haliaetus) where they coexist.[62] Steller's sea eagles co-occur with cinereous vultures, the largest living accipitrid, during the winter in the Korean Peninsula and Northeast China. In one case, a cinereous vulture, the largest living accipitrid, was observed to be pursued in flight and kleptoparasitized by a Steller's sea eagle.[63]

Reproduction Edit

 
An immature in Łódź Zoo, Poland. Steller's sea eagles take several years to reach maturity, attaining the adult color pattern when four

This eagle builds several bulky aeries made of twigs and sticks at a height up to 1.5 m (59 in) and diameter up to 2.5 m (98 in). They usually place such nests high up on trees or on rocky outcrops at 15 to 20 m (49 to 66 ft) above the ground, sometimes in trees up to 45 m (148 ft). Alternate nests are usually built within 900 m (3,000 ft) of each other. In one case, two active nests were found to have been located within 100 m (330 ft).[13][30]

Courtship usually occurs between February and March, and reportedly simply consists of a soaring flight above the breeding area.[30] It was believed that pairs of sea eagles remain constant throughout life; however, the results of molecular genetic studies show that some chicks have relatively high similarity with chicks from other nests. This can be a clue to occasional polygamy in colonial nesting birds, though alternative hypotheses such as the parents of “conditional” siblings were close relatives exist.[64] Steller's sea eagles copulate on the nest after building it.[4] They lay their first greenish-white eggs around April to May. The eggs range from 78 to 85 mm (3.1 to 3.3 in) height and 57.5 to 64.5 mm (2.26 to 2.54 in) in width and weigh around 160 g (5.6 oz), being slightly larger than those of harpy eagles.[30] Clutches can contain from one to three eggs, with two being the average. Usually, only one chick survives to adulthood, though in some cases as many as three will successfully fledge.[30] After an incubation period around 39 – 45 days the chicks hatch. The chicks are altricial and covered in whitish-down on hatching. The eaglets fledge in August or early September. Adult plumage is attained at four years of age, but first breeding does not typically occur for another year or two.[4][30]

Eggs and very small nestlings can be preyed on by arboreal mammals, such as sables and ermines, and birds, usually corvids. Any of these small, clever nest predators rely on distraction and stealth to prey on the eagle's nests and are killed if caught by either of the parents. Once they reach roughly adult size in the fledgling stage, few predators can threaten this species. In one case, a brown bear (Ursus arctos) was able to access a nest located on a rock formation and ate a fledgling eaglet, though this is believed to be exceptional. Fully-grown fledglings in tree nests are probably invulnerable to predation. Excluding the Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus), which has not thus far been recorded as a predator, no other mammalian carnivores equal to or greater than the eagle's size can climb trees in the species' range.[65] Due primarily to egg predation and nest collapses, only 45–67% of eggs are successfully reared to adulthood and up to 25% of nestlings may be lost.[13] Once fully grown, though, the eagle has no natural predators.[40]

Conservation status Edit

 
Many Steller's sea eagles overwinter in Japan, where they are protected and classified as a national treasure.

Steller's sea eagles are classified as vulnerable by the IUCN. They are legally protected, being classified as a national treasure in Japan and mostly occurring in protected areas in Russia, but many threats to their survival persist. These mainly include habitat alteration, industrial pollution, and overfishing, which in turn decrease their prey source. The current population is estimated at 5,000 and decreasing.[1] Heavy flooding, which may have been an effect of global climate change, caused almost complete nesting failure for the eagles nesting in Russian rivers due to completely hampering the ability of the parents to capture the fish essential to their nestlings' survival.[51] Persecution of the bird in Russia continues, due to its habit of stealing furbearers from trappers.[13] Due to a lack of other accessible prey in some areas, increasingly, eagles on Hokkaido have moved inland and scavenged on sika deer carcasses left by hunters, exposing them to a risk of lead poisoning through ingestion of lead shot.[66]

In Kamchatka, 320 pairs have been recorded. An additional 89 nesting areas are not monitored. In the mountains of Koryakan and along the Bay of Penshina, over 1,200 pairs breed and at least 1,400 juveniles occur. About 500 pairs live in the Khabarovsk region of the Okhostsk coast, and 100 on the Shantar Islands. Another 600 pairs occur in the lower Amur. About 280 pairs are on Sakhalin Island and a few are on the Kurile Islands. The total population is around 3,200 breeding pairs. Possibly, up to 3,500 birds winter on Kamchatka, and another roughly 2,000 may occur on Hokkaido. Generally, the species' outlook is favorable. Outside the breeding range, food bases in the principal wintering areas are so far secure.[13]

References Edit

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  10. ^ Gray, George Robert (1849). The genera of birds : comprising their generic characters, a notice of the habits of each genus, and an extensive list of species referred to their several genera. Vol. 1. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. p. 17.
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Further reading Edit

  • Brown, Leslie Hilton (1976). Eagles of the World. David & Charles, Newton Abbot. ISBN 0-7153-7269-6
  • True, Dan (1980). A family of eagles. Everest, New York. ISBN 0-89696-078-1

External links Edit

  • Illustration of Aquila pelagica in Zoographica Rosso-Asiatica (1811) by Peter Simon Pallas.

steller, eagle, haliaeetus, pelagicus, also, known, pacific, eagle, white, shouldered, eagle, very, large, diurnal, bird, prey, family, accipitridae, described, first, peter, simon, pallas, 1811, subspecies, recognised, sturdy, eagle, dark, brown, plumage, wit. Steller s sea eagle Haliaeetus pelagicus also known as 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 11 to 22 lb but in some standard measurements may be ranked below the harpy eagle Harpia harpyja and the Philippine eagle Pithecophaga jefferyi 4 Steller s sea eagleA Steller s sea eagle near Rausu Hokkaido JapanConservation statusVulnerable IUCN 3 1 1 CITES Appendix II CITES 2 Scientific classificationDomain EukaryotaKingdom AnimaliaPhylum ChordataClade DinosauriaClass AvesOrder AccipitriformesFamily AccipitridaeGenus HaliaeetusSpecies H pelagicusBinomial nameHaliaeetus pelagicus Pallas 1811 breeding only resident all year winter only vagrant rangeSynonyms 3 Aquila pelagica Pallas 1811 Thalassaetus pelagicus Pallas Falco leucopterus Temminck 1824 Falco imperator Kittlitz 1832 The Steller s sea eagle is endemic to Northeast Asia where it lives in Russia Korea Japan China and Taiwan Steller s sea eagle lives in coastal northeastern Asia and mainly preys on fish and water birds The Kamchatka Peninsula in Far Eastern Russia is known for its relatively large population of these birds about 4 000 of these eagles live there 5 Steller s sea eagle is listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature s Red List IUCN Red List of threatened species Steller s sea eagle females are bigger than males Contents 1 Taxonomy 2 Description 2 1 Size 2 2 Standard measurements and physiology 2 3 Plumage 2 4 Voice 3 Distribution and habitat 4 Vagrancy 5 Diet 6 Reproduction 7 Conservation status 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External linksTaxonomy EditThis species was described initially as Aquila pelagica by Prussian naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1811 6 The species name is the Ancient Greek pelagos the open sea ocean 7 Dutch naturalist Coenraad Jacob Temminck named it Falco leucopterus white winged eagle in 1824 8 and Heinrich von Kittlitz called it Falco imperator in 1832 9 George Robert Gray moved the species into the genus Haliaeetus in 1849 10 Steller s sea eagle has been designated the official name by the International Ornithologists Union IOU 11 It is named after the German naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller 12 It also is known as Steller s fish eagle Pacific sea eagle or white shouldered eagle 4 In Russian the eagle has been called morskoi orel sea eagle pestryi morskoi orel mottled sea eagle or beloplechii orlan white shouldered eagle In Japanese it is called ō washi large eagle or great eagle 13 In Korean the eagle is called chamsuri true eagle In Mandarin it is called hǔtou hǎidiao tiger headed sea eagle A 1996 analysis of the cytochrome b gene of mitochondrial DNA showed that Steller s sea eagles diverged from a lineage that gave rise to the bald eagle and white tailed eagle around 3 4 million years ago All three of these species have yellow eyes beaks and talons unlike their next closest relative Pallas s fish eagle 14 H pelagicus is monotypic although a dubious subspecies has been named H p niger 15 The latter name was given to the population that lacked white feathers except for the tail and may have resided all year in Korea Last seen in 1968 and long believed to be extinct a female matching H p niger in appearance was hatched in captivity in the Bayerischen Jagdfalkenhof Germany in 2001 and subsequently transferred to Tierpark Berlin Both her parents had typical coloration indicating that H p niger is an extremely rare dark morph rather than a valid subspecies as had been suggested earlier 16 17 One of the offspring of the dark Berlin female a male hatched in 2014 that now lives in Skandinavisk Dyrepark Denmark also is a dark morph 18 Description EditSize Edit nbsp A falconer holding a Steller s sea eagle in EnglandSteller s sea eagle is the largest bird in the genus Haliaeetus and is one of the largest raptors overall Females vary in weight from 6 2 to 9 5 kg 14 to 21 lb while males are rather lighter with a weight range of 4 9 to 6 8 kg 11 to 15 lb 4 19 20 The typical weight is variable possibly due to seasonal variation in food access or general condition of eagles but has been reported as high as a mean weight of 7 75 kg 17 1 lb to a median estimate weight of 6 25 kg 13 8 lb excluding expired eagles that were poisoned by lead and endured precipitous weight loss by the occasion of their deaths 4 19 20 21 22 At its average weight the Steller s seems to outweigh the average harpy by around 0 5 kg 1 1 lb and the average Philippine eagles by more than 1 kg 2 2 lb 4 20 23 Steller s sea eagle can range in total length from 85 to 105 cm 2 ft 9 in to 3 ft 5 in Apparently males average about 89 cm 2 ft 11 in in length while females average about 100 cm 3 ft 3 in marginally shorter on average than the harpy eagle and about 65 mm 2 6 in shorter than the Philippine eagle 4 21 The wingspan is from 1 95 to 2 50 m 6 ft 5 in to 8 ft 2 in and the wing chord measurement is 560 to 680 mm 22 to 27 in 4 13 24 The sea eagle s wingspan is one of the largest of any living eagle at a median of 2 13 m 7 ft 0 in per Ferguson Lees 2001 or a median of 2 2 m 7 ft 3 in per Saito 2009 4 21 Steller s sea eagles absolute maximum wingspan is less certain many sources place it at up to 2 45 m 8 ft 2 in 25 26 However less substantiated records indicate that it may also reach even greater wingspans Three separate sources claim unverified Steller s sea eagles spanning up to 2 7 m 8 ft 10 in 2 74 m 9 ft 0 in and 2 8 m 9 ft 2 in respectively If true this would be the largest wingspan of any eagle 27 28 29 Steller s sea eagle is unique among all sea eagles in having a yellow beak even in juvenile birds and possessing 14 not 12 rectrices 14 Standard measurements and physiology Edit nbsp Detail of head of a Steller s sea eagle in the Cincinnati Zoo United States nbsp Close up of feet with hooked sharp talonsAs in most Haliaeetus eagles the tarsus and tail are relatively short compared to other very large eagles at 95 100 mm 3 7 3 9 in and 320 390 mm 13 15 in in length respectively with the Philippine eagle surpassing it by up to 40 mm 1 6 in and 110 mm 4 3 in apparently 4 30 In all sea and fish eagles the toes are relatively short and stout with the bottom of the foot covered in spicules and the talons being relatively shorter and more strongly curved than in comparably sized eagles of forests and fields such as the booted eagle group i e Aquila or harpy eagles All of these specializations developed in the aid of capturing fish rather than medium sized mammals and large birds although clearly these are not excluded from capture 4 30 As in all fish and sea eagles as well as the majority of the world s fish eating raptors Steller s sea eagle has spicules which are bumpy waves all along the bottom of their feet which allow them to hold fish that may otherwise slip out of their grasp 4 The feet are very powerful despite not bearing talons as long as those of a harpy eagle In one case a wildlife veterinarian was badly injured when a female eagle grabbed his arm and embedded her talons piercing through to the other side of his arm 31 The bill is large The skull is around 14 6 cm 5 7 in in total length the culmen is from 62 to 75 mm 2 4 to 3 0 in and the bill from the gape to the tip is around 117 mm 4 6 in 32 33 A Steller s sea eagle s bill is probably the largest of any living eagle just surpassing to the Philippine eagle with a sole known culmen measurement from a mature female of 72 2 mm 2 84 in and are similar in robustness if slightly shorter in culmen length to those of the largest accipitrids the Old World vultures 4 32 34 Plumage Edit nbsp Adult of the rare dark morph in Tierpark Berlin Germany Before the hatching of this female which had normal parents the dark morph was considered a separate subspecies 16 17 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 35 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 4 30 A very rare dark morph once regarded as a separate subspecies H p niger lacks white in its plumage except for the tail 16 17 The eyes bill and feet of adults are yellow 4 The downy plumage of chicks is silky white on hatching though it soon turns a smoky brown grey As in other sea eagles remiges and rectrices of the first year plumage are longer than those of adults Juvenile plumage is largely a uniform dark soot brown with occasional grey brown streaking about the head and the neck white feather bases and light mottling on the rectrices The tail of the immature eagle is white with black mottling distally 22 30 The young Steller s sea eagle has dark brown irises whitish legs and blackish brown beak Through at least three intermediate plumages mottling in the tail decreases body and wing feathering acquires a bronze cast and the eyes and bill lighten in colour 13 Definitive plumage is probably reached in the fourth to fifth year of life based on data from captives Young of the typical morph and the rare dark morph are alike The difference only becomes clear once they have gained the adult plumage 18 First and intermediate plumages are difficult to distinguish from those of the white tailed eagle which co occurs in the entire breeding range of H pelagicus but beyond their bulkier larger overall form they can fairly reliably be distinguished at reasonable range by their considerably more massive bill and their darker and more uniform body plumage This is not to mention the differing shape of the Steller s diamond shaped tail and wings paddle like in Steller s against the square looking wings of the white tailed especially in flight as well as a generally distinct under wing pattern 13 Voice Edit Steller s sea eagle is known to make a deep barking cry ra ra ra raurau In aggressive interactions its call similar to the white tailed eagles but deeper 30 During the display at the beginning of the breeding season they have been heard to make calls to each that sound like very loud deep voiced gulls 30 36 Distribution and habitat Edit nbsp Adult in the Magadan Nature Reserve Russia a part of the species breeding rangeSteller s sea eagle breeds on the Kamchatka Peninsula the coastal area around the Sea of Okhotsk the lower reaches of the Amur River and on northern Sakhalin and the Shantar Islands Russia Many eagles migrate from breeding grounds to Korea Japan and China in winter Most birds winter south of their breeding range in the southern Kuril Islands Russia and Hokkaidō Japan Steller s sea eagle is less prone to vagrancy than the white tailed eagle as it lacks the long range dispersal typical of juveniles of that species 37 38 but vagrant eagles have been found in North America at locations including the Pribilof Islands and Kodiak Island as well as Texas Nova Scotia Massachusetts and Maine the latter four all being a single individual 39 and inland in Asia to as far as Beijing in China and Yakutsk in Russia s Sakha Republic and south to as far as Taiwan 30 40 The large body size see also Bergmann s rule and distribution of Steller s sea eagle suggests it is a glacial relict meaning it evolved in a narrow subarctic zone of the northeasternmost Asian coasts which shifted its latitude according to ice age cycles and never occurred anywhere else Their nests are built on large rocky outcroppings or at the tops of large trees on the coast and alongside large rivers with mature trees Habitat with large Erman s birches Betula ermanii and floodplain forests of larches alders willows and poplars are preferred Some eagles especially those that nest on seacoasts may not migrate The timing duration and extent of migration depends on ice conditions and food availability On Kamchatka eagles overwinter in forests and river valleys near the coast but are irregularly distributed over the peninsula Most wintering birds there appear to be residential adults Steller s sea eagles that do migrate fly south to winter in rivers and wetlands in Japan but occasionally move to mountainous inland areas as opposed to the seacoast Each winter drifting ice on the Sea of Okhotsk drives thousands of eagles south Ice reaches Hokkaido in late January Eagle numbers peak in the Nemuro Strait in late February On Hokkaido eagles concentrate in coastal areas and on lakes near the coast along with substantial numbers of white tailed eagles Eagles depart between late March and late April with adults typically leaving before immatures Migrants tend to follow seacoasts and are usually observed flying singly In groups migrants are typically observed flying 100 200 m 330 660 ft apart On Kamchatka most migrants are birds in transitional plumages They are also occasionally seen flying over the northern ocean or perching on sea ice during the winter 13 40 Steller s Sea eagle occasionally turns up in western Alaska In December 2021 for the first time one had been documented in the lower 48 states first on the Taunton River in Massachusetts and then in Georgetown Maine 41 42 Vagrancy EditA single individual has been moving around North America having first been seen on August 30 2020 near Denali National Park in Alaska 43 Subsequently a Steller s sea eagle was photographed in Victoria TX not long after a winter storm blew into the state This sighting has been verified by the Texas Bird Records Committee and is presumed to be the same individual as seen in Denali though the photos are not sufficient to establish this identity 44 This was the first record of the species in the contiguous United States The sea eagle was then confirmed in several locations in New Brunswick Quebec and Nova Scotia throughout the summer and into November In December it was spotted on the Taunton River in Massachusetts and then moved north to the Maine coast Georgetown Boothbay and Pemaquid 45 More recently it was seen on the east side on Newfoundland on April 22 2022 46 In early 2023 this individual was spotted again in Maine along the shores of Georgetown 47 Marks on the wing indicate that all these sightings are of the same individual 48 Diet Edit nbsp Steller s sea eagles near Rausu Hokkaido in Japan catching a fish top and carrying a fish bottom Steller s sea eagle mainly feed on fish Their favored prey in river habitats are salmon Oncorhynchus spp and trout 49 Among these pink salmon O gorbuscha and chum salmon O keta are reportedly favored sometimes intensely supplemented by grayling Thymallus sp and three spined stickleback Gastrossteus aculeatus 50 While pink and chum salmon average approximately 2 2 and 5 kg 4 9 and 11 0 lb in mature mass respectively Steller s sea eagle not infrequently preys on fish up to 6 to 7 kg 13 to 15 lb 32 In coastal areas nesting eagles may feed on Bering wolffish Anarchichas orientalis Hemitripterus villosus smooth lumpfish Aptocyclus ventricosus and Myoxocephalus spp 50 Like most Haliaeetus eagles they hunt fish almost exclusively in shallow water Relatively large numbers of these normally solitary birds can be seen congregating on particularly productive spawning rivers in August through September due to an abundant food supply 40 On Kamchatka aggregations of as many as 700 eagles have been reported though much smaller groups are the norm 13 In summer live fish typically in the range of 20 to 30 cm 7 9 to 11 8 in in length are fed to the young at the nest Normally the parents catch about two or three fish for the young to eat each day In autumn when many salmon die after spawning dead fish tend to be consumed more often than live ones and these are the main food for Steller s sea eagles that overwinter in inland rivers with unfrozen waters 30 On Hokkaido eagles are attracted by abundant Pacific cod Gadus macrocephalus which peak in the Rausu Sea and the Nemuro Straits in February This resource supports an important commercial fishery which in turn helps to support eagles 13 Alaska pollock Gadus chalcogrammus along with the cod is the most important food source for wintering eagles in Japan 4 These eagles may walk boldly within a few feet of fishermen when both are capturing fish during winter but only familiar ones they have encountered previously They behave warily and keep their distance if strangers are present 31 nbsp Alaska pollock one of the primary food sources for Steller s sea eagles in their wintering range in Japan nbsp Slaty backed gull one of the primary avian species hunted by this eagleFish make up about 80 of the diet of eagles nesting in the Amur River elsewhere other prey form almost an equal proportion of the diet 13 Along the sea coast and in Kamchatka water birds are the most common prey Water birds taken by this species include ducks geese swans cranes herons and gulls 51 They also show a strong local preference for slaty backed gulls Larus schistisagus 51 Common and thick billed murres Uria aalge and U lomvia respectively dominated the diet around the Sea of Okhotsk followed by black legged kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla slaty backed gulls crested auklets Aethia cristatella and pelagic cormorants Phalacrocorax pelagicus 50 Small chicks of murres and cormorants were sometimes taken alive in Russia and brought back to nests where they independently fed on remains of fish in the eagles nests until they were killed themselves 50 In Russia upland grouse such as black billed capercaillie Tetrao parvirostris and willow and rock ptarmigan Lagopus lagopus amp L muta can be an important prey species grouse are not typically taken by other Haliaeetus species 30 52 Other landbirds hunted by Steller s sea eagles have included short eared owls Asio flammeus snowy owl Bubo scandiaca carrion crow Corvus corone and common raven Corvus corax as well as rarely smaller passerines 50 In one case a Steller s sea eagle was observed feeding on a great albatross genus Diomedea a rare vagrant from the sub Antarctic oceans 4 This sea eagle may supplement its diet with various mammals especially hares 4 30 crabs mussels Nereis worms and squid when given the opportunity 50 25 Mammalian carnivores are apparently readily hunted Those recorded as prey have included sable Martes zibellina American mink Neogale vison Arctic fox Vulpes lagopus red fox Vulpes vulpes and small domestic dogs Canis familiaris 30 50 Smaller mammals have also been recorded as prey including northern red backed vole Clethrionomys rutilus and tundra vole Microtus oeconomus 50 Carrion especially that of mammals is readily eaten during the winter Around 35 of eagles wintering in Japan move inland and feed largely on mammalian carcasses predominantly sika deer Cervus nippon 53 In winter immature Steller s sea eagles may frequent slaughterhouses to pirate bits of offal 30 This eagle has been recorded preying occasionally on young seals It was estimated in one study Brown amp Amadon that some seal pups carried off in flight by the eagles weighed at least 9 1 kg 20 lb which if true would be the greatest load carrying ever known for a bird however the prey weights were not verified 54 Often seals and sea lion of any size are eaten as carrion and using the huge bill may be dismembered where found rather than flown with 55 Steller s sea eagles hunt most commonly from a perch in a tree or rocky ledge located 5 30 m 16 98 ft above the water although they may also hunt on the wing while circling 6 7 m 20 23 ft above the water Once located prey is captured by diving Eagles sometimes hunt by standing in or near shallow water on a sandbank spit or ice floe grabbing passing fish Compared with its white tailed and bald eagle relatives Steller s sea eagle reportedly is a more aggressive powerful and active raptor 30 Where feeding occurs in groups kleptoparasitism is common Kleptoparasitism is most beneficial in procuring food during periods of food abundance and in large feeding aggregations Immatures use kleptoparasitism as much as adults but are attacked more often by adults than birds of similar age Adults appear to benefit most from this behavior The bold color patterns of adults may be an important signal influencing the formation of feeding groups However a video from Russia shows a juvenile Steller s sea eagle aggressively displacing an adult from food during a protracted battle 56 Outside the breeding period these eagles probably roost communally near their feeding sites When salmon and trout are dying in winter after their summer spawning feeding groups of Steller s sea eagles may mix with smaller golden eagles Aquila chrysaetos and white tailed eagles to exploit this food source This area is the only one in the golden eagle s nearly circumpolar range where they are extensively dependent on fish for prey 57 Kleptoparasitism is sometimes recorded within the species Occasionally the smaller species may steal a fish away from the Steller s especially if it is distracted by aggression from conspecifics and both juvenile and adult Steller s may lose fish to the smaller species even face to face especially a less assertive bird such as immature Steller s One video shows a golden eagle engaging an immature Steller s in a conflict and ultimately displacing it after maintaining a superior grip despite its smaller size 58 In other cases the Steller s have been photographed coming away with the prey after using its superior size to dominate usually by bearing down its mass and large bill over the smaller eagles 59 60 61 Cinereous vultures Aegypius monachus and bearded vultures Gypaetus barbatus are the only larger rational birds that a Steller s sea eagle may encounter in the wild In other cases the three eagle species have been observed to feed in close proximity and seem to be outwardly indifferent to each other s presence In inland areas where golden bald and white tailed eagles compete over food sources which are not as abundant as these fish and more importantly compete for nesting ranges aggressive interspecies competition can be more common 13 White tailed eagles and golden eagles have even killed one another in Scotland in cases of competition for abutting nesting ranges 57 As in many sea and fish eagles Steller s sea eagle may attempt to steal and occasionally succeed in procuring fish from osprey Pandion haliaetus where they coexist 62 Steller s sea eagles co occur with cinereous vultures the largest living accipitrid during the winter in the Korean Peninsula and Northeast China In one case a cinereous vulture the largest living accipitrid was observed to be pursued in flight and kleptoparasitized by a Steller s sea eagle 63 Reproduction Edit nbsp An immature in Lodz Zoo Poland Steller s sea eagles take several years to reach maturity attaining the adult color pattern when fourThis eagle builds several bulky aeries made of twigs and sticks at a height up to 1 5 m 59 in and diameter up to 2 5 m 98 in They usually place such nests high up on trees or on rocky outcrops at 15 to 20 m 49 to 66 ft above the ground sometimes in trees up to 45 m 148 ft Alternate nests are usually built within 900 m 3 000 ft of each other In one case two active nests were found to have been located within 100 m 330 ft 13 30 Courtship usually occurs between February and March and reportedly simply consists of a soaring flight above the breeding area 30 It was believed that pairs of sea eagles remain constant throughout life however the results of molecular genetic studies show that some chicks have relatively high similarity with chicks from other nests This can be a clue to occasional polygamy in colonial nesting birds though alternative hypotheses such as the parents of conditional siblings were close relatives exist 64 Steller s sea eagles copulate on the nest after building it 4 They lay their first greenish white eggs around April to May The eggs range from 78 to 85 mm 3 1 to 3 3 in height and 57 5 to 64 5 mm 2 26 to 2 54 in in width and weigh around 160 g 5 6 oz being slightly larger than those of harpy eagles 30 Clutches can contain from one to three eggs with two being the average Usually only one chick survives to adulthood though in some cases as many as three will successfully fledge 30 After an incubation period around 39 45 days the chicks hatch The chicks are altricial and covered in whitish down on hatching The eaglets fledge in August or early September Adult plumage is attained at four years of age but first breeding does not typically occur for another year or two 4 30 Eggs and very small nestlings can be preyed on by arboreal mammals such as sables and ermines and birds usually corvids Any of these small clever nest predators rely on distraction and stealth to prey on the eagle s nests and are killed if caught by either of the parents Once they reach roughly adult size in the fledgling stage few predators can threaten this species In one case a brown bear Ursus arctos was able to access a nest located on a rock formation and ate a fledgling eaglet though this is believed to be exceptional Fully grown fledglings in tree nests are probably invulnerable to predation Excluding the Asian black bear Ursus thibetanus which has not thus far been recorded as a predator no other mammalian carnivores equal to or greater than the eagle s size can climb trees in the species range 65 Due primarily to egg predation and nest collapses only 45 67 of eggs are successfully reared to adulthood and up to 25 of nestlings may be lost 13 Once fully grown though the eagle has no natural predators 40 Conservation status Edit nbsp Many Steller s sea eagles overwinter in Japan where they are protected and classified as a national treasure Steller s sea eagles are classified as vulnerable by the IUCN They are legally protected being classified as a national treasure in Japan and mostly occurring in protected areas in Russia but many threats to their survival persist These mainly include habitat alteration industrial pollution and overfishing which in turn decrease their prey source The current population is estimated at 5 000 and decreasing 1 Heavy flooding which may have been an effect of global climate change caused almost complete nesting failure for the eagles nesting in Russian rivers due to completely hampering the ability of the parents to capture the fish essential to their nestlings survival 51 Persecution of the bird in Russia continues due to its habit of stealing furbearers from trappers 13 Due to a lack of other accessible prey in some areas increasingly eagles on Hokkaido have moved inland and scavenged on sika deer carcasses left by hunters exposing them to a risk of lead poisoning through ingestion of lead shot 66 In Kamchatka 320 pairs have been recorded An additional 89 nesting areas are not monitored In the mountains of Koryakan and along the Bay of Penshina over 1 200 pairs breed and at least 1 400 juveniles occur About 500 pairs live in the Khabarovsk region of the Okhostsk coast and 100 on the Shantar Islands Another 600 pairs occur in the lower Amur About 280 pairs are on Sakhalin Island and a few are on the Kurile Islands The total population is around 3 200 breeding pairs Possibly up to 3 500 birds winter on Kamchatka and another roughly 2 000 may occur on Hokkaido Generally the species outlook is favorable Outside the breeding range food bases in the principal wintering areas are so far secure 13 References Edit a b BirdLife International 2016 Haliaeetus pelagicus IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016 e T22695147A93492859 doi 10 2305 IUCN UK 2016 3 RLTS T22695147A93492859 en Retrieved 19 November 2021 Appendices CITES cites org Retrieved 14 January 2022 Sharpe Richard Bowdler 1874 Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum Vol 1 British Museum pp 306 07 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Ferguson Lees James Christie David A 2001 Raptors of the World illustrated by Kim Franklin David Mead and Philip Burton London UK Christopher Helm pp 406 08 ISBN 0 7136 8026 1 Fauna on Kamchatka Brown Bear Steller s Sea Eagle Salmon Archived from the original on 25 February 2019 Retrieved 1 November 2017 Pallas Peter Simon 1811 Zoographia Rosso Asiatica sistens omnium animalium in extenso Imperio Rossico et adjacentibus maribus observatorum recensionem domicilia mores et descriptiones anatomen atque icones plurimorum Petropoli pp 343 45 Liddell Henry George Scott Robert 1980 1871 A Greek English Lexicon Abridged ed Oxford United Kingdom Oxford University Press p 540 ISBN 0 19 910207 4 Temminck Coenraad Jacob 1824 Nouveau recueil de planches coloriees d oiseaux pour servir de suite et de complement aux planches enluminees de Buffon Vol 1 Strasbourg Chez Legras Imbert et Comp pp 87 88 Kupfertafeln zur Naturgeschichte der Vogel in German Frankfurt Johann David Sauerlander 1832 pp 3 4 Gray George Robert 1849 The genera of birds comprising their generic characters a notice of the habits of each genus and an extensive list of species referred to their several genera Vol 1 London Longman Brown Green and Longmans p 17 Gill Frank Donsker David eds 2017 New World vultures Secretarybird kites hawks amp eagles World Bird List Version 7 1 International Ornithologists Union Retrieved 9 December 2017 Steller s Sea Eagle Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens Lazoo org Archived from the original on 13 June 2011 Retrieved 31 May 2011 a b c d e f g h i j k l m in Russian Species Synopsis Steller s Sea Eagle Fadr msu ru Retrieved on 2012 08 21 a b Wink Michael Heidrich Petra Fentzloff Claus 1996 A mtDNA phylogeny of sea eagles genus Haliaeetus based on nucleotide sequences of the cytochrome b gene PDF Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 24 7 8 783 91 doi 10 1016 S0305 1978 97 81217 3 Archived PDF from the original on 29 October 2008 Etymology niger Latin for black a b c Kaiser M 2010 A living specimen of the dark form of Steller s Sea Eagle Haliaeetus pelagicus niger in captivity Journal of Ornithology 152 207 208 doi 10 1007 s10336 010 0580 2 S2CID 28976663 a b c Davies E 2010 Dark Steller s sea eagle solves 100 year debate BBC a b A rare sea eagle Skandinavisk Dyrepark retrieved 26 June 2020 a b Dementev G amp Gladkov N A 1954 Ptitsy Sovetskogo Soyuza The Birds of Soviet Union Sovetskaya Nauka Moscow 5 p 803 a b c CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses 2nd Edition by John B Dunning Jr Editor CRC Press 2008 ISBN 978 1 4200 6444 5 a b c Saito K 2009 Lead poisoning of Steller s Sea Eagle Haliaeetus pelagicus and White tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla caused by the ingestion of lead bullets and slugs Hokkaido Japan In RT Watson M Fuller M Pokras and WG Hunt Eds Ingestion of Lead from Spent Ammunition Implications for Wildlife and Humans The Peregrine Fund Boise Idaho USA a b Masterov V B 2000 Postnatal development of Steller s sea eagles in East Asia In First symposium on Steller s and white tailed sea eagles in East Asia Wild Bird Society of Japan Tokyo pp 17 28 Gamauf A Preleuthner M amp Winkler H 1998 Philippine Birds of Prey Interrelations among habitat morphology and behavior PDF The Auk 115 3 713 726 doi 10 2307 4089419 JSTOR 4089419 Steller s Sea Eagle Archived 6 September 2012 at archive today polarconservation org last update 21 April 2009 a b Steller s Sea Eagles Animals nationalgeographic com Retrieved 31 May 2011 Steller s Sea Eagle The Cincinnati Zoo amp Botanical Garden Cincinnatizoo org 20 June 2014 Retrieved on 2016 12 14 Japan s Winter Wildlife Zoom In National Geographic Magazine Ngm nationalgeographic com Retrieved on 2017 1 29 Palmer R S Ed 1988 Handbook of North American Birds Volume VI Diurnal Raptors Part 1 Yale University Press Fischer W 1959 Die Seeadler 1st edition Neue Brehmn Bucherei no 221 3d rev ed 1982 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Brown Leslie and Amadon Dean 1986 Eagles Hawks and Falcons of the World The Wellfleet Press ISBN 978 1555214722 a b Tingay R E amp Katzner T E Eds 2010 The eagle watchers Observing and conserving raptors around the world Cornell University Press a b c Ladyguin Alexander 2000 The morphology of the bill apparatus in the Steller s Sea Eagle First Symposium on Steller s and White tailed Sea Eagles in East Asia pp 1 10 Ueta M amp McGrady M J eds Wild Bird Society of Japan Nakagawa H 2009 Steller s Sea Eagle PDF Bird Research News 6 2 2 3 Tabaranza Blas R Jr 17 January 2005 The largest eagle in the world Haribon Foundation Archived from the original on 13 December 2012 Retrieved 23 September 2012 A field guide to the Birds of Korea 2005 ISBN 89 951415 3 0 Steller s Sea Eagle San Diego Zoo Whitfield D Philip Duffy Kevin McLeod David R A Evans Richard J MacLennan Alison M Reid Robin Sexton David Wilson Jeremy D Douse Andrew 2009 Juvenile Dispersal of White Tailed Eagles in Western Scotland Journal of Raptor Research 43 2 110 doi 10 3356 JRR 08 54 1 S2CID 85815476 McGrady Michael J Ueta Mutsuyuki Potapov Eugene R Utekhina Irina Masterov Vladimir Ladyguine Alexander Zykov Vladimir Cibor Jack Fuller Mark Seegar William S 2003 Movements by juvenile and immature Steller s Sea Eagles Haliaeetus pelagicus tracked by satellite Ibis 145 2 318 doi 10 1046 j 1474 919X 2003 00153 x Shivaram Deepa A lost eagle from Asia has been traveling around North America for more than a year NPR Dec 21 2021 Accessed Dec 21 2021 a b c d ADW Haliaeetus pelagicus Information Animaldiversity ummz umich edu Retrieved 31 May 2011 Fleming Deidre 31 December 2021 Birders cap off 2021 with a first ever sighting of a Steller s sea eagle in Maine Portland Press Herald Retrieved 5 December 2022 Associated Press 29 January 2022 Rare Steller s sea eagle travels far from home to Maine coast The Washington Post Retrieved 5 December 2022 The Story of America s Rarest Eagle retrieved 8 January 2022 Texas Bird Records Committee Report for 2021 retrieved 7 February 2023 RARE BIRD ALERT STELLER S SEA EAGLE Maine Audubon 31 December 2021 Retrieved 8 January 2022 STELLER S SEA EAGLE Merlin eBird 22 April 2022 Retrieved 25 April 2022 Twitter Twitter Retrieved 7 February 2023 Inside the Amazing Cross Continent Saga of the Steller s Sea Eagle Audubon 10 January 2022 Retrieved 25 January 2022 Steller s sea eagle videos photos and facts Haliaeetus pelagicus ARKive 17 April 2003 Archived from the original on 8 December 2009 Retrieved 31 May 2011 a b c d e f g h Utekhina I Potapov E amp McGRADY M J 2000 Diet of the Steller s Sea Eagle in the northern Sea of Okhotsk pp 71 92 in First Symposium on Steller s and White tailed Sea Eagles in East Asia Tokyo Japan Wild Bird Society of Japan a b c Potapov E U Irina M McGrady and D Rimlinger 2010 Abstract Source sink populations of the Steller s Sea Eagles Haliaeetus pelagicus in the northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk ecological traps and their conservation implications P 32 in S Gombobaatar R Watson M Curti R Yosef E Potapov and M Gilbert eds Asian raptors science and conservation for present and future The proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Asian Raptors Asian Raptor Research and Conservation Network Mongolian Ornithological Society and National University of Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mongolia Steller s sea eagle Haliaeetus pelagicus The Peregrine Fund Global Raptor Information Network 12 February 2012 Retrieved 9 March 2013 Ueta Mutsuyuki McGrady Michael J Nakagawa Hajime Sato Fumio Masterov Vladimir B 2003 Seasonal change in habitat use in Steller s sea eagles Oryx 37 doi 10 1017 S003060530300019X Wood The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats Sterling Pub Co Inc 1983 ISBN 978 0 85112 235 9 BirdLife International 2003 BirdLife s online World Bird Database the site for bird conservation Version 2 0 Cambridge UK BirdLife International Wild Russia Eagles Battle Over Food YouTube Retrieved 4 June 2013 dead YouTube link a b Jeff Watson 23 August 2010 The Golden Eagle A amp C Black ISBN 978 1 4081 1420 9 Retrieved 23 October 2012 Kamatchka Golden Eagle fights Steller s Sea Eagle Archived from the original on 8 October 2014 Retrieved 19 September 2014 Steller s sea eagle photo Haliaeetus pelagicus G113853 Archived 5 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine ARKive Retrieved on 2012 08 21 The Secret Lives of Sea Eagles National Wildlife Federation Nwf org 26 October 2011 Retrieved on 2012 08 21 Photo Keywords steller s sea eagle White tailed Eagle and Steller s Sea Eagle Golden First Light 21 June 2012 Retrieved on 2012 08 21 Steller s Sea Eagle Woodland Park Zoo Seattle WA Retrieved 22 September 2014 Birds Korea Bird News January 2006 Birds Korea Retrieved 22 May 2013 Masterov V B and M S Romanov Tihookeanskij orlan Haliaeetus pelagicus ekologiya evolyuciya ohrana 2014 384 384 McGrady M J Potapov E Utekhina I 1999 Brown bear Ursus arctos feeds on Steller s Sea Eagle Haliaeetus pelagicus nestling Journal of Raptor Research 33 4 342 343 BirdLife International 2016 Species factsheet Haliaeetus pelagicus Archived 21 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine Further reading EditBrown Leslie Hilton 1976 Eagles of the World David amp Charles Newton Abbot ISBN 0 7153 7269 6 True Dan 1980 A family of eagles Everest New York ISBN 0 89696 078 1External links Edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Haliaeetus pelagicus nbsp Wikispecies has information related to Haliaeetus pelagicus Illustration of Aquila pelagica in Zoographica Rosso Asiatica 1811 by Peter Simon Pallas Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Steller 27s sea eagle amp oldid 1180040851, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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