Steller’s sea eagle, also known as the Pacific eagle or white-shouldered eagle, is the heaviest eagle in the world, and one of the biggest. It’s a monster. They inhabit coastal regions in North Eastern Asia, and they predominantly eat fish and other birds.
They can weigh up to 9 kilograms, which is about the same as 18 cans of beer. They grow up to around 1 metre in length and can have a wingspan of around 2.5 metres.
Steller’s eagles mostly breed in the isolated and beautiful region of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. Although they’ll eat pretty much anything, they absolutely love salmon. Often they eat salmon that have died after spawning, which make a nice easy snack.
Some Steller’s eagles have been observed stealing the chicks of other birds, including murres and cormorants. They keep the infants alive, allowing them to eat fish remains in the nest before, eventually, becoming lunch themselves. It’s an innovative way of keeping your meal fresh until you are hungry enough to eat it (they don’t have freezers, you see).
The eagles aren’t fussy eaters and, along with their fish and seabird lunches, they’ve been known to eat voles, mussels, domestic dogs, worms, squid, mink and fox. When you’re as big as them, you need any food you can get, but you’re big enough that you can catch any food you need. Some have reported them carrying off seal pups, weighing an estimated of 9.1 kg. Although not confirmed, if that weight is correct, it’s a record load carried by a bird.
Golden, bald and white-tailed eagles compete for food with Steller’s eagles. Sometimes, they simply share without paying much attention to each other, but when times are harsher, there can be battles. Here’s a ruckus between a Steller’s and a white-tailed eagle:
The eages build huge aeries, which are 2 metres across, scruffy twig nests. Sometimes they are placed high up in trees; up to 45 metres off the ground. They use multiple nests situated hundreds of metres apart.
Steller’s sea eagles are classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). They are legally protected, being classified as a National Treasure in Japan and mostly occur in protected areas in Russia. Once a Steller’s eagle is fully grown, it has no natural predators thanks to its huge size and aggressive nature. The estimated global population is assumed to comprise around 32,000 breeding pairs.
So there you go, what a mighty fine beast. More birds here:
