[cobirds] Re: RFI: Steller's Sea Eagle

John, I'm a Florida resident with a daughter in Greeley. My wife and I were in Colorado over the July 4th weekend in 2023 and into the following week. This was only our third visit to Greeley, or Colorado. Our daughter drove us to the Denver airport for  our return flight. She doesn't let me drive when we're together because whenever I see a new bird (and they're all new to me out there) I pull off the road abruptly and without warning. Apparently, that bothers some people. From my seat in the back of the car I saw a large raptor with white shoulders on top of a tall telephone pole. I didn't know what I was looking at. I wanted to shout, "Stop the car!" But I've been warned not to do that either. So, I convinced myself that when I got back home I could find this very distinct raptor in one of my guidebooks (still slow to turn to eBird). Well, you can imagine my surprise when I discovered there's only one bird that really fits that description. But there were no sighting closer than Texas, so I just thought I must have been wrong. And I probably was. But I did check the news that week to see if the Denver Zoo had lost theirs. No one reported an escape. Still, every once in a while ever since I search google for "stellar sea eagle" and "colorado." That's how I found your post. So, I thought I'd join the group and risk putting this out there. I'm with T. Luke George – it would be a surprise if no one else noticed ... maybe ...

On Friday, June 16, 2023 at 11:07:14 AM UTC-4 John Shenot wrote:

I spoke this morning with a not-very-serious birder who saw a very large bird in fall of 2020 at Dixon Reservoir (Larimer) that he struggled to ID. He claimed to be familiar with Bald and Golden Eagles, including immatures, and Ospreys. Saying he felt sure it was not one of those, he looked around on the internet but the only thing he could find that looked right was Steller's Sea Eagle - a species he learned had never been observed anywhere remotely close to this part of the world. He convinced himself it couldn't be that, it had to be something else like a "mutant bald eagle", and let the mystery fade. Until he learned about the vagrant sea eagle seen that year in Alaska (before his mystery bird sighting) and Texas (after his sighting).

FWIW, his description of the bird he saw matched the field marks for Steller's Sea Eagle. I don't know the guy but he didn't strike me as a hoaxer, or someone seeking glory.

I'm only posting this to ask if anyone else ever heard anecdotal stories or speculation about that famous sea eagle perhaps migrating across/over Colorado? Obviously there are no documented sightings but I didn't know if there were any rumors?

And finally, the fun part: this guy says he had pictures but his hard drive died. He is trying to find a part so he can restore the hard drive. If he succeeds with that, and shares a photo, I'll let this community know of course. Until then, it's just an intriguing story.

John Shenot

Fort Collins, CO

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