Steller's Sea Eagle

Haliaeetus pelagicus (Pallas, 1811)

89 cmLength220 cmWingspan7.8 kgWeight

This large, dark brown to blackish sea eagle has white scapulars and legs, a white diamond-shaped tail and a thick yellow bill.

Busiest months: February · Most records: Japan, South Korea, China

Looks like White-tailed Eagle

Vulnerable

How to identify

Field marks

Dark brown to blackish, with white scapulars, legs and tail
White tail diamond-shaped
Adult eyes, bill, legs and feet yellow
Bill very large

Male, female and young

Female larger than male; juvenile mostly dark brown, with a white tail bearing black patches at the tip.

Voice

Low, barking “ra-ra-ra-raurau” calls, also quacking calls like those of Canada Goose.

Similar species

White-tailed Eagle

Juveniles are difficult to separate; Steller's Sea Eagle has a larger, thicker bill, darker and more uniform body feathers, paddle-like wings and a diamond-shaped tail, while White-tailed Eagle has square-cut wings.

Where and when it's recorded

Steller's Sea Eagle has been recorded at 39 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 7 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

To protect this bird from disturbance, we don't list exact sites.

Countries and regions with the most records

Japan South Korea China United States Russia Czechia Slovenia

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

Steller's sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus), also known as the Pacific sea eagle or white-shouldered eagle, is a very large diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It was described first by Peter Simon Pallas in 1811. No subspecies are recognized.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia