During my annual Hokkaido Photo Workshops, one of my highlights is the Battle Royale that breaks out every year between the local wildlife, the White-tailed Eagle and the seasonal visitors from the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Steller’s Sea Eagle, but I recently heard from some colleagues that in spite of mandatory social distancing and travel bans, a bald eagle made the trek all the way from the North American subcontinent all the way to Japan’s north island of Hokkaido.  I later checked to see if any news had been published regarding this rare and exciting sighting, and I was quickly able to find an Asahi Shimbun article that verified the visitation.  The bald eagle was spotted near a popular birding location for locals, one I often visit with participants on my Hokkaido Photography Tour near the town of Nemuro, Hokkaido, and I hope to see this eagle on my 2022 Hokkaido Winter Tour.

The Steller's Sea Eagle is one of the most fierce eagles on our planet, with a total length is 85 - 105 cm (2 ft 9 - 3 ft 5 in).  The typical wingspan is 250 cm (8 - 9 ft).  The Steller's Sea Eagle, on average, is the heaviest raptor on our planet, weighing up to and over 10 kg (22 pounds).  Males and females look identical, except the females are 25 to 50 percent heavier.  The White-Tailed Eagle is one of the giant birds of prey in the family Accipitridae which includes other raptors such as hawks, kites, and harriers.  These beautiful majestic raptors are known as the fourth largest eagle globally; these eagles measure from 65 - 95 cm (25.5 - 37 inches) in length with a wingspan of 170 - 260 cm (5.5 ft - 8 ft 5 inches). It is said this raptor has the largest wingspan of any living eagle. The male and female are similar in coloring and appearance, the accurate way to tell them apart is by tarsus width and depth and bill depth, but this is next to impossible unless they are captive or captured then released with tracking devices on their legs. I usually tell them apart by their size in which females are generally about 30% heavier and about 15% greater in linear dimensions.  The adult white-tailed eagle is grayish mid-brown colored overall. The plumage is relatively uniform over most of the body and the wings, but the wing coverts are generally paler; the rest of their plumage is usually softer looking from the head, neck, and upper breast is often a desert dawn hue, but colors of the white-tailed eagle can easily range from bright, vibrant, beautiful colors to washed out and spotted. Their bill is massive and can be vibrant orange to dull in color, and it is razor-sharp to rip apart their prey in a hurry, and they are an aggressive bird. The bald eagle is closer in size to the White-Tailed Eagle than the Steller’s Sea Eagle.  The Bald Eagle has a body length of 70 - 102 cm (28 - 40 inches). The typical wingspan is between 180 - 230 cm (~ 6 - 8 feet), and mass is normally between 3 to 6.3 kg (6.6 to 14 pounds).  The males' average weight is 4.1 kg (9 pounds), with the females’ being 25% smaller.

The bald eagle is sticking out like a sore thumb in Hokkaido, and I have seen images and videos, and there is no mistake. It is a bald eagle in Hokkaido.  The bald eagle’s range includes Mexico, America, and Canada, and if I had to guess how the eagle made its way to the pack ice as it drifted south to Hokkaido was across the Aleutian Islands, Andreanof Islands, and the Rat Islands until it reached the pack ice off the coast of Russia, or it flew from Alaska to Russia which is possible, and then followed the land route to the Sea of Okhotsk and rode the pack-ice with the migrating Steller's Sea Eagle.  

In 2022, I will add the bald eagle to the list of raptors and other wildlife that populate my Hokkaido Winter Photography Workshop.  The bald eagle has been spotted in several locations in my old stomping grounds in Hokkaido, and having birding colleagues and conservationist friends who live in the area where the bald eagle has been spotted, if any opportunity to spot and photograph the eagle exists during my annual Hokkaido winter tour workshops, I will make sure to add such a rare photo opportunity to the itinerary.   But you can be 100% sure there will be plenty of other opportunities to photograph Steller’s Sea Eagles, White-tailed Eagles, the snow ballerinas the Red-crowned Cranes, Glaucous Gulls, the Blakiston’s Fish Owl, one of the First Nations People, the Ainu’s Kamuy guardian spirits, and then there’s the land wildlife in Hokkaido such as the Ezo Red Fox, the Ezo Red Squirrel the Ezo Sika Deer, Hokkaido being home to the largest herd on the planet, and many other species  Hokkaido Japan call home year-round.

Expect an update to this newsletter after my 2022 Hokkaido Photo Tour with a photo of the American visitor among its eagle brethren.