The White-Tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) is also known as the White-tailed sea eagle, Gray eagle, and Eurasian sea eagle is one raptor of many I photograph on my annual Hokkaido birding photo tour workshop.  The White-Tailed can be photographed all year round in Hokkaido, Japan as they are endemic to the region. They are the only species known to be more massive in dimension than the Steller’s Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus), the Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja), and the Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi). These eagles measure from 65-95cm in length with a wingspan of 170 cm to 260 cm (5 ft 5 to 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, and I usually tell them apart by their size in which females are generally about 30% heavier and about 15% greater in linear dimensions.  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 can be an aggressive bird, who stand their ground against other raptors such as the Steller’s sea eagle, (Haliaeetus pelagicus), who migrate to Hokkaido for the winter. 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.

Most wildlife conservationists know that White-tailed eagles have the largest wingspan of any eagle, and I’ve seen countless up close and personal, so I believe it.  I have seen both White-tailed eagles and Steller’s sea eagles huddle on ice floes during periods of high wind and extreme cold to share warmth, but this camaraderie is always short-lived.  White-tailed eagles and Steller’s sea eagles are perpetually hunting in the pack ice for prey, and as soon as a fish is spotted by these birds of prey, the eagles that were once huddled for warmth become bitter enemies, exchanging angry barbs and slashes with their beaks and talons catching prey and then fighting even harder to preserve it from the other hunters on the pack ice.  Whether hunting for fish or other prey, huddling for warmth, or engaging in aerial combat with Steller’s sea eagles, White-tailed eagles make a breathtaking photographic subject, one I enjoy introducing to visiting local and international photographers.