Rare eagle, native to Asia, spotted in Massachusetts after sightings in Texas, Canada: 'Most likely lost'


Gabriela Miranda, USA TODAY
Tue, December 21, 2021

A rare bird spotted in Massachusetts has birdwatchers wondering how it arrived on the East Coast since the bird, known as a Stellar's sea eagle, is native to Asia.

While some of these sea eagles have appeared in Alaska, the state closest to the bird's home continent, none have been seen in Massachusetts, much less in Texas and in other states.

This eagle was rumored to be visiting the Taunton River in Massachusetts, and as it roamed the area, more than a hundred photographers and birders turned up.

The Steller's sea eagle is one of the largest raptors in the world, weighing up to 20 pounds with a wingspan of up to 8 feet. It is native to China, Japan, Korea and eastern Russia, according to Smithsonian Magazine. You can identify the bird by its yellow beak and white patterned feathers on its wings.

In November alone, the bird is believed to have traveled to Texas and parts of Canada, including Nova Scotia, Quebec and New Brunswick. Andrew Farnsworth, a senior researcher at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology told The New York Times for the bird to be so far from home is “mind-boggling.”

Phil Taylor, a biologist at Acadia University who studies bird migration, spotted the eagle on Wednesday afternoon in Falmouth, Nova Scotia.

“I knew exactly what it was, immediately,” Taylor told The Times. “I couldn’t believe it. Something like this is just one in a million.”

Bird watchers, Nate Levy (Plymouth), Tonya Tromblee (Salem NH.) and Jane Williamson (wayland) at Mallard Point in Somerset Monday.

As for how it migrated thousands of miles away, the Smithsonian reported it is "most likely lost." Birds sometimes lose their way and wind up far from their species' usual range. It's a phenomenon called "vagrancy." Changes in extreme weather and navigation errors can result in vagrancy.

What's next for the rare eagle?

"It’s like an avian soap opera,” an avian vagrancy expert Alexander Lees told the New York Times.

Lees guessed the sea eagle could migrate along with native bald eagles down the coastline, find its way back to northeastern Asia or die. All humans can do is keep an eye out.

“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?”

Contributed: Chris Helms, Taunton Daily Gazette

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rare eagle from Asia spotted in Massachusetts, Texas, Canada