14 January 2015
In North America, bald eagles and golden eagles are very large birds but they’re no match in size for the Steller’s sea eagle.
Steller’s sea eagles (Haliaeetus pelagicus) live on the coast of northeast Asia so do not encounter North America’s bald eagle but they do run into goldens who are lightweights by comparison. The largest Steller’s can outweigh a golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) by a factor of two.
At Lake Kuril on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, Steller’s sea eagles and golden eagles compete for food.
Watch these rivals fight in the Russian winter.
(screenshot from National Geographic’s Wild Russia series which, as of Jan 2022, no longer hosts the Steller’s sea eagle fight)