Instead, the mood was bemused, pleasant, and happy. They weren’t expecting hundreds of birders crowding the wharf, and it could have been an ugly scene. The eagle went missing on January 2 but was spotted on January 6 not far away on another stretch of the river.įive Islands is a working waterfront, and yesterday was a busy day for local lobstermen pulling their traps for the season. The scene was ripe for conflict but instead it was one of joy, with bemused lobstermen laughing about the surprise crowds and one even giving birders a ride on his boat to see the bird perched behind an island. Cars packed into the small wharf area alongside lobstermen and women working to unload their traps. Another scramble.īy the next morning, the eagle was being enjoyed by hundreds of birders for three glorious days on the scenic coast of Georgetown. Could she send any photos of the bird? She did. A woman named Linda Tharp let me know “it's in Five Islands ME today, 12/30.” I quickly found Linda on Instagram.
I had written a blog post about my journey to Massachusetts, and on Dec. Look how much larger it is than the Bald Eagles just above it /a21K77T3cuĭecember 30, 2021–JanuSheepscot River, Maine Hours later, after we left, the eagle left its perch. A crowd of 200 or so people were elated, whooping and high-fiving and shaking their heads with incredulity. Sorry!) Three masked friends and I sped down I-95 from southern Maine to Dighton Rock State Park where- miracle of all miracles-we watched the massive, rare, incredible, wandering Steller’s Sea Eagle tower over nearby Bald Eagles. (I immediately begged off the Christmas Bird Count I was working on when the news hit.
birders’ first real shot at seeing the bird, due to pandemic rules for crossing into Canada, so New England’s entire birding scene was in a scramble. Late on December 19, word got out of a sighting in southern Massachusetts that occurred a week before. and almost certainly the same one that was photographed in Texas in March of this year! /K26GUX6sfMĭecember 12–20, 2021 Taunton River, Massachusetts The Steller's Sea Eagle being seen right now in New Brunswick, is the same bird that was photographed near Denali in Alaska in August of 2020. The eagle continued to bounce around the Gaspé Peninsula in July and early August. It was confirmed the two sightings were of the same individual. Still, high quality spread-wing photographs allowed birders to notice something crucial: The distinctive border between the white and brown feathers on the upper wings was an exact match to the bird previously seen in Alaska. People from across Canada converged on the location, but it was only spotted a handful of times, mostly on July 1. Gerry Isaac, a ranger from the Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation, first spotted the bird in a tree on June 28 and got the word out. The bird popped up next in late June-more than 2,500 miles away in eastern Canada. JGaspé Peninsula, Quebec/New Brunswick, Canada Now the biggest question for birders is where this wandering giant will go next. The timeline and travels of this single bird, from Alaska to Texas to eastern Canada to New England, must be seen to be believed. The Steller’s Sea-Eagle is the epitome of a vagrant bird, and the same individual has been tracked across North America since it was first spotted more than a year ago. Vagrancy-the tendency for birds to show up far outside their normal range-is one of the most exciting aspects of birding. So how did this bird get to New England? It flew. Steller’s Sea-Eagles are native to far eastern Russia, the Korean peninsula, and northern Japan. And of course, it’s not supposed to be here. It’s rare: There are only about 4,000 of this vulnerable species left in the wild, compared to hundreds of thousands of Bald Eagles.
It’s an awe-inspiring bird-about a foot longer and taller than an adult Bald Eagle and as many as five pounds heavier, with a massive golden bill that looks like pirate treasure. Yet the two juvenile Bald Eagles I saw perched in a tree in Massachusetts on Decemlooked like pigeons compared to the other bird on the limb with them: a Steller’s Sea-Eagle.Įverything about seeing a Steller’s Sea-Eagle in New England is incredible. At 10 pounds and with a 7-foot wingspan, the Bald Eagle is one of the largest flying birds in the United States.
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