A once in a lifetime opportunity has literally dropped out of the sky in Massachusetts , where bird watchers have spot an incredibly rareSteller ’s ocean eaglealong the banking concern of the Taunton River . aboriginal to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far eastward of Russia , thesecolossal raptorshave never antecedently been go out on any Atlantic coastline .
Easily recognisable thanks to their striking orange bill and C. P. Snow - white tails , Steller ’s sea eagles have a wingspan that can turn over 2.5 meters ( eight feet ) and are among the largest bird on the satellite . Numbering just a few thousand , these awesome creatures breed along the coastline and islands of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea , sometimes migrating to Japan or Korea in wintertime .
However , writing on his blogThe Birdistearlier this week , Nick Lund , who stand for Maine Audubon , announced the appearing of this incredible flying colossus on the east coast of the US . “ The size stands out – a pair of juvenile Bald Eagles perch just above it but are dwarfed by the Steller ’s , ” he wrote .
The same bird to begin with appeared in Alaska back in August 2020 , where local birders made note of a white spot on its left wing . Even more amazingly , in the spring of this year , word come out that a Steller ’s sea eagle had been spotted in Texas . It seems extremely likely that this was the same individual , yet its classifiable wing pattern could not be confirmed because it was only go out perched rather than in trajectory .
In July , however , the same bird wasreportedin Quebec and New Brunswick , before going off the radar until last calendar month , when it re - appeared in Nova Scotia . Speaking to theNew York Times , Lund explained that the eagle ’s tour of Canada was “ like an elephant walking up out of Africa into Scandinavia [ or ] like go a call that the Rolling Stones are playing in a field behind a warehouse in the next township over . ”
By testify up in Massachusetts , however , the bird has now entered uncharted district for its coinage and looks set to pass Christmas almost 8,000 kilometre ( 5,000 miles ) from home .
As rare and unexpected as this sighting may be , it is n’t all that uncommon for doll to stray from their range and become floating . In most cases , vagrancy happens when a bird becomes thrown off course or disoriented due to strange weather , or because of some internal navigation mistake .
talk toNPR , Alex Lees , a lecturer of conservation biology at Manchester Metropolitan University , explained that this bird of Jove probably ended up in Massachusetts due to " a failure to change off the inherent aptitude to dispel or a failure of its navigatory setup . "
According to Lees , the fact that the bird has n’t returned home in well over a year means that it believably never will .
