In northeast asia a bird eating eagle looms overhead.
On this episode, having the largest wingspan of any bird alive today, we bring you the
Steller’s Sea Eagle.
This diurnal bird of prey or one that is active during the day was originally described by
Peter Simon Pallas in 1811.
Coenraad Jacob Temminck initially named it white winged eagle in 1824, ya not the most
creative name, later it was designated as the Steller’s sea eagle.
Living in coastal northeastern Asia, the Kamchatka Peninsula in far Eastern Russia is home to
a healthy population of 4000 of these birds.
700 of them been seen at once within this region.
Sporting dark brown plumage with white legs, wings, diamond shaped tail and head markings
these massive eagles are the heaviest in the world.
Females weigh in at 13 - 21 lbs or 6 -14 kg and males at 11 - 15 lbs or 5 - 7 kg.
Their weight fluxuates quite a bit due to availability of food, but on average they
outweigh the harpy eagle by 1.1 lbs and the philippines eagle by 2.2 lbs.
We did a video on the Philippines eagle be sure to check it out afterwards.
When it comes to body length the Steller's sea eagle is just a smidge shorter than the
philippines eagle at 3 ft 5 inches or 104 cm for females and 2 ft 11 inches or 89 cm
for males.
The wingspan is where the Steller's dominates spanning up to 8 feet 2 inches or 249 cm long
which is longer than the tallest basketball player that ever lived, Suleiman Ali Nashnush.
There are 3 unverified sources that recorded individuals with wingspans upwards of 9 feet
with the largest at 9 feet 2 inches or 279 cm.
Despite the eagle itself only weighing up 21 lbs at most they’ll frequently prey upon
fish like pink salmon, chum salmon, trout, grayling, and three-spined stickleback some
of which weighing up to 15 lbs.
Hunting in shallow waters it's not just the fish that need to keep an eye out.
Swans, geese, ducks, cranes, herons, owls, crows, ravens and gulls are on the menu for
the steller's sea eagle.
Their typical hunting protocol has them perched on a tree looking down 100 feet or 30 meters
below.
Once prey is targeted they’ll dive down and make their catch.
A 1996 DNA analysis showed that the steller's sea eagle diverged from a lineage of the bald
eagle and white-tailed eagle 3 to 4 million years ago.
It was initially believed that there was a subspecies of the steller’s that was devoid
of white except on the tail which lived in Korea.
Last seen in 1968 they thought it went extinct until one popped up in 2001 in captivity.
Instead of a subspecies it turns out to be an extremely rare morph of the eagle.
When reproducing, stellars like to build their nests high up on rocky outcrops to which they’ll
lay 1 to 3 greenish white eggs.
Generally only 1 of the 3 will make it to adulthood which is when they get their stylish
adult plumage at age four.
Once adulthood is reached this eagle has no natural predators as no other species will
take it on.
Classified as a national treasure in Japan, there are around 5000 of them left in the
wild.
Listed as a vulnerable species it’s important we protect their habitat and leave them alone
so their numbers can grow.
Industrial pollution, habitat alteration, overfishing and climate change, which is apparently
fake news is the greatest threat to this eagle.
Decreasing numbers of fish have led some of these eagles to scavenge on sika deer killed
by hunters only to get lead poisoning through ingestion of lead shot.
It’s sad most of these animals I talk about are struggling to survive because of us.
We have more than enough space to coexist with them if we prioritize it.
If this channel ever makes that elusive big youtube money I’ll start an environmental
foundation that’ll help clean up ocean pollution and protect endangered animals.
If you want to help out like the video and leave a comment, and until the next one have
a good one.