Okay class. This is the last of your unsolicited tutorials on raptors of the world.
Meet the Stellar Sea Eagle.
Thought to be rarest raptor in the world.
It is considered by many to be the world’s most magnificent raptor, and is the heaviest eagle in the world, even larger than the Harpy. It wingspan can be over 8 feet. That’s three world records for only one birdie!
That’s kinda like being Lance Armstrong before we found out he was cheating.
Anyhoo, little is known about the Stellar Sea Eagle due to their remote habitat. They live exclusively on the North East Coast of Russia, North Korea and select coastal areas of Japan. They catch fish, mainly salmon, while flying along the surface of the water. Check out the side view of this eagle’s eye in the photo below. You can see the retina and how it swivels, giving the Stellar his incredible prey spotting capabilities, and you can see through the transparent aqueous body of the eye.
Here is an interesting factoid. The Stellar engages in a practice called “Kleptoparasitism.”
I’ve known a person or two in my life who seemed to engage in this practice as well. But I digress……
Anyhoo, the Stellar rips off other bird’s kills. I guess the other birds know enough not to object.
I don’t know about you, but I certainly wouldn’t!
“Want my salmon? Sure! Take it all….No problem. I wasn’t hungry anyway…..”
Afterall, this is one big birdie, with one very big beak!
If this eagle escaped from the zoo and flew to The Holler, I would catch a wind-draft to Arizona, along with the red-tails and every other raptor at The Holler!
Cheers to you from The Holler!
lovely to have the eagles in preparation of Independence Day!
Beautiful bird!
I didn’t even think of the connection! Clever you!
Thank you for the factoids. The 8 feet wing span is a good size bird. I am imaging it as a radio control air plane flying around.
I love that imagery! You crack me up! I’m still thinking about “The Screaming Turkeys,” fighter squadron! LOL!
Awesome 🙂 So beautiful
Magnificent is isn’t he or she?
Timely post – if this eagle lives in the Kamchatka peninsula then it lives in an area of outstanding beauty. Amazing how it just comes along and takes others’ kill..
Have you been? We are discussing Russia for 2014. I would be most interested to hear about your experiences. Seeing this eagle catch salmon would be a once in a lifetime experience. Your blog is stunning~
And I was just thinking how my blog should be more like yours, with real and exotic information! Yes, have been – and live right next door now too. I would say a trip to the Russian Federation needs good planning, to see what you want. Also consider when you’d like to go, in the year – that’s obvious.. Kamchatka is spectacular…but it is far, very far, at least from here. The Baltic republics are great too, on the border, and where would you start in Siberia! I know Yakutia well and other places. Will find out about hawks. Certainly in Tien Chan mountains was very interesting, in Kazakhstan. Those hawks and their ‘masters’ really understand each other.
Uhhhh. I think you have me trounced on exotic locations! Just reading this paragraph gets me motivated for Russia and the Baltic! I can just imagine the beauty of Kamchatka and would love to see it. Our discussion now is between Greenland and Russia/Baltic. I am sending your comments and blog to my husband for his perusal. Thank you! I need to read more of your blog to find out more about you! Fascinating!
Wow! Beautiful.
P.S.: Lesson appreciated. 🙂
In that case you get an A+ and are the teacher’s pet!! 🙂
😀
He can have my salmon too! I wouldn’t want to tangle with that magnificent looking bird!! I adore your pics!!
Plus I still need to lose a pound……..LOL! Thank you~
Absolutely magnificent. I can’t begin to imagine seeing an Eagle with an 8-ft wingspan. And that beak — forget worrying about a finger, think hand, arm, etc.! Amazing bird.
I would itch to see these in the wild. I have seen videos of them fishing. So stunning~
He could give Toucan Sam some competition with that beak.
Yeah he could. I’d put my money on the eagle! Sorry Sam! LOL!
So impressive and regal.
I agree! Just at your site marveling at your photos & narratives~
It is a lovely bird – the king of the air 😉 Superb photos!!
nice shots!
Mil grazi~
Hi Cindy , my wife and l just came back from Alaska and we saw the wild Eagles but not like the one on your post.Thank you so much for visiting my blog.Have a wonderful week.jalal
Aren’t they wonderful! We have seen so many Bald Eagles on our trips to gorgeous Alaska. Cheers to you~
what a magnificent bird! thanks for sharing that information I hadn’t come across them before. must be awesome to see them in the wild.
Wouldn’t that be a once in a lifetime thrill!! Thinking about Russia for 2014. But the Kamchatka pennisula, not sure yet.
Hi, the world’s heaviest eagle! Happy 4th of July !!! 😀 )))
LOL! Happy 4th to you too!
Wouldn’t it be amazing to fly with the eagles!
“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”
― Leonardo da Vinci
What a perfectly marvelous quotation! Thank you Rebecca!
I have a feeling that you are a bird whisperer!
I would love to be!
That’s some bird. From your photo I now have a true understanding of the expression “eagle-eyed’.
Yes! That is exactly what I thought!!
I certainly wouldn’t mess with these guys!!
Nope. They can have whatever they want! LOL~
Those shots are magnificent, truly eagle eyed.
Incredible eyes! So complex~
Thank goodness for the ZOOM button 🙂
Where would my life be without zoom? LOL~
lol
closer to the ACTION!
Well, that is true too! LOL!
I still want to pet it….
LOL. Hi Jasmine! Great to hear from you! Yes I agree with you. I would love to hang around these raptors and take their photos. I have missed you! I’m heading over to your blog to see what you’ve been up to. I haven’t gotten any posts from you in my reader for a long time. This has happened with other bloggers too……
Reblogged this on barbsburnttree and commented:
I always enjoy learning about our national treasures!
Wow, he is a beautiful bird, but to be honest, I’m kinda glad he doesn’t live around here! I’d have to don a helmet every time I left the house just to feel a tiny bit more safe, lol!
For some reason raptors don’t scare me at all. I like being close, even to the big ones I saw in Patagonia. Rattlesnakes? They creep me out. Got a pic of one though!!!
he is a gorgeous fellow…and that beak is huge! an 8 ft wing span is crazy…I’d love to see one in person!
Me too!! Maybe we should book a flight to the Kanchatka pennisula???? LOL!
lol…wouldn’t that be fabulous…
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I love this post. It is quite clever, interesting and humorous! Thank you for your kind mention! Cheers to you~
We were hiking on Massanutten Mountain (in the Blue Ridge, just east of the Appalancians) this weekend. On a series of limestone out-croppings we watched a pod of turkey vultures pearch on a nearby cliff, the launch off into the western updrafts with hardly a flap of their wings. They drifted, turned, glided back, and slowly disappeared into the forest below us. I always enjoy seeing these birds in flight from above.
Oscar (saw Barney’s link from his blog on other kinds of birds)
Yes. We have turkey vultures in great numbers here as well. They are magnificent gliders. They fly and barely move a feather. They do cluster when they detect carrion. I need to work on some photos of them. They are somewhat monochromatic, so I would need to work at it, but I think I will, thanks to your comments! Since we too are on a mountain, I have watched them fly from above. You are right they are so graceful!
You do not necessary what to try to photography vulters on the ground…. they are probably consuming something that smells disqusting!
Very true and they carry a lot of bacteria in general…..Definitely photograph these babies from a good distance!
I love your commentaries about your pictures. While I’m learning something, I’m also chuckling.
That is such a thoughtful comment and means a lot to me. Thank you~
oooh!! i would kill to see that raptor stretched out!! My favorite post this morning, Cindy–and I say: encore to the Stellar!! More!! 🙂
So glad you liked it my friend!! They are magnificent aren’t they!! Thank you~
I’ve never seen such a yellow beak before in my life. A truly beautiful yellow! Canary yellow.
Its big and almost awkward looking. But I can just imagine them swooping along the coastal waters of The Kamchatka Pennisula, grasping salmon from the waters with their talons. I would so love to see this someday!
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Bedankt en God zegene u!