Diet Horse Sea

Posted on November 19, 2011 by Admin
Diet Horse Sea

Diet Horse Sea

The Steller’s Sea Eagle, Haliaeetus Palagicus is the heaviest eagle in the world weighing 11 to 20 pounds. However, other eagles like the Harpy Eagle, Philippine Eagle, and the Martial Eagle surpass it in other measurements. The bird is named after the German naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller who lived from 1709 to 1746. Two subspecies have been named. It lives primarily in northeast Asia and preys mainly on fish.

Descriptions

The Steller’s Sea Eagle is the largest bird in the genus Haliaeetus and is one of the largest birds of prey overall. Females weigh on the average 15 to 20 pounds while the males weigh 11 to 13 pounds. An unverified record exists of a female that gorged herself on salmon and weighed 28 pounds.

The Steller’s Sea Eagle breeds on the Kamchatka Peninsula, the coastal area around the Sea of Okhotsk, the lower parts of the Amur river and on northern Sakhalin and Shantar Islands, Russia. It has 14 not the usual 12 retrices. Retrices lie in a single horizontal row on the rear margin of the tail and help the bird brake and steer in flight. The skull and beak are the largest of any eagle and comparable to the largest Old World Vultures, the biggest raptors.

The bird has been known to frequent North America but it is not known to generally nest there.

Classification

The Steller’s Eagle is classified as vulnerable which means that it is likely to become endangered unless circumstances threatening its survival and reproduction change. It is a threatened species. The main threats to its survival are habitat alteration, industrial pollution, overfishing, and poisoning by lead shot. If present activities continue, the Steller’s Sea Eagle could become extinct in fifty years. The current population is around 5000.

Diet and Nesting

The Steller’s Sea Eagle’s main diet includes salmon, a favorite, trout and cod. It also preys on water dwelling birds such as ducks, geese, swans, cranes and gulls. Mammals, crabs, squid, and carrion also round out its diet. They may even prey on young seals.