Rare and Giant Steller’s Sea Eagle Spotted Thousands of Miles From Home in Eastern Canada Park
The bird, thought to be the only one of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, is presumed to be Stella, an out-of-place raptor spotted at sites across North America in recent years
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Steller’s sea eagles are massive birds of prey, with wingspans stretching up to eight feet long—bigger than the tallest NBA players. With their pronounced golden-yellow beaks and striking black and white plumage, these large raptors are easy to identify as they soar above the water in search of fish.
The winged creatures are typically spotted along the coastlines of northeast Asia, including in Russia, Korea and Japan. But, this winter, birdwatchers say they’ve spotted a Steller’s sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) in Newfoundland, Canada, thousands of miles from its home.
In mid-December, the interloper made an appearance at Terra Nova National Park, a large, protected wilderness area next to the Atlantic Ocean. Terra Nova is normally closed during the winter, but the Steller’s sea eagle sighting prompted park officials to temporarily open one road so that birdwatchers and wildlife photographers had a chance to see the feathered visitor.
“With fewer than 5,000 of them in the world, this is the only one of its kind known to be in the Western Hemisphere,” the park wrote on Facebook.
When photographer Sandra Moss heard about the raptor’s appearance, she sprang into action and headed to the park with her husband. When she finally saw the winged behemoth perched at the top of a tree, she began snapping photos—and ended up taking roughly 500 shots in about ten minutes.
She’s accustomed to photographing bald eagles, which are large raptors in their own right. But “no bald eagle comes close to the size of this bird,” she tells the Canadian Press’ Sarah Smellie.
“I can’t explain how exciting it is,” she adds. “It’s an incredible feeling to know that that bird has chosen us. That’s what it feels like.”
A Stellers Sea-Eagle continues in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada! https://t.co/KNW4vkCj1z Photo: Barry Day #ABARare #birding pic.twitter.com/EOkQI95dzR
— Rare Bird Alert (@rbabox) December 14, 2024
The Steller’s sea eagle hanging out at Terra Nova National Park is presumed to be the internet-famous bird nicknamed Stella, who has been flying around in North America for a few years. Birdwatchers have been following Stella since August 2020, when a photographer snapped a shot of the bird in Alaska, reported Audubon magazine’s Nicholas Lund in 2022.
From there, Stella flew south to Texas, then north to Quebec and New Brunswick, Canada. The out-of-place sea eagle spent some time in Nova Scotia before detouring to Massachusetts and Maine.
In the summers of 2022 and 2023, Stella was spotted in the town of Trinity, Newfoundland. There, the bird joined bald eagles on nearby rocky cliffs to feast on spawning capelin, a type of small, oily fish that lives in northern waters. Bird enthusiasts flocked to the small town, with local tour operator Trinity Eco-Tours ferrying visitors out to see the rare eagle.
In June 2024, the bird was seen building a nest in Trinity, Newfoundland, according to Trinity Eco-Tours. But, if the lone Steller’s sea eagle is looking for a mate, it’s “unlikely to find one” in North America, says Joseph Tobias, a biodiversity researcher at Imperial College London, to McClatchy News’ Brendan Rascius.
“The species often travels from breeding grounds in Russia to wintering grounds in Japan, and most likely this individual made a navigational error,” Tobias adds. “Sea-eagles often wander widely, and this individual must have crossed the Bering Strait by accident.”
It’s not clear how or why the Steller’s sea eagle ended up so far from home, a phenomenon scientists call vagrancy. But, whatever the reason, birdwatchers and ornithologists are delighted the raptor has decided to stick around.
“It’s like an avian soap opera,” Alexander Lees, a biodiversity researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University in England, told the New York Times’ Marion Renault in 2021. “We’re all rooting for it. Will it make it home? Or is it doomed to never see another species of its own in its lifetime?”
An estimated 3,600 to 4,670 mature Steller’s sea eagles exist in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The species is considered “vulnerable,” as habitat loss, lead poisoning, climate change and brown bear predation have caused the population to decline.
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