It's the only one in the wild in North America. This is the first one ever recorded in Canada. It's been travelling around the northeast, and this week it was practically in my own back yard.....well, maybe 15 miles away. I saw it standing on a muddy hill at low tide along the ocean as I was out driving around, looking for a subject to photograph. This Steller's Sea Eagle normally lives in Russia, China, and Northern Japan - and other similar remote areas. But this lone guy/gal has been delighting birders all over the area from Massachusetts, Maine, Northern New Brunswick, eastern Quebec, and yes, in my home province of Nova Scotia. It was also seen in Texas briefly around a year ago. It's definitely the same bird, based on some unique wing markings. It was seen a couple weeks ago about an hour east of me, and I drove to the spot two days in a row, but missed it. Then it showed up close to home. After I took these pics yesterday, it took flight and headed westward, and hasn't yet been seen again, despite many people out looking, and hoping to get a glimpse of such a rare bird. He/she is a stunner, almost twice the size of a Bald Eagle, with an 8 foot wingspan and weighing in around 20 pounds, compared to a Bald Eagle at 10-12 pounds. Not to mention that huge cartoon-like orange beak!
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_D8I7725 Steller's Sea Eagle in Nova Scotia by Ian Murray, on Flickr2.
_D8I7739 Steller's Sea Eagle in Nova Scotia by Ian Murray, on Flickr3.
_D8I7752 Steller's Sea Eagle in Nova Scotia by Ian Murray, on Flickr4.
_D8I7760 by Ian Murray, on Flickr5.
_D8I7764 Steller's Sea Eagle in Nova Scotia by Ian Murray, on Flickr6.
_D8I7772 Steller's Sea Eagle in Nova Scotia by Ian Murray, on Flickr
