The Steller's sea eagle does not seem to be homesick.
Over the last two years, the bird has traveled thousands of miles from its native range in East Asia to its current location in Canada and New England. Crowds of rapt birders to Maine were attracted by its cartoonish yellow beak and distinctive wing color.
Nick Lund is the outreach manager for Maine Audubon and creator of The Birdist blog. He said that catching a glimpse of a bird in one's backyard is like the purest form of joy.
The Steller's sea eagle is not just a lost bird, but a vagrant, a term that describes birds that wing their way well beyond their species' normal range of movement.
Humans have long marveled at such exotic stragglers, which experts also refer to as waifs, rarities, extralimitals, casuals and accidentals, and what they suggest about the biological importance of wandering.
The peripatetic sea eagle was not an extralimital. A small-billed elaenia captured in a net in Quebec and a heron-like limpkin recorded in Texas are some of the fan favorites.
It has an exciting story to tell, Mr. Lund said.
The Sea Eagle.
North America in 2021.
Northern Lapwing.
Canada, 1927.
There is a pigeon in the Nicobar Islands.
Australia, 2017.
There is a falcon.
Saint Paul Island was built in 1999.
The Emperor Penguin.
New Zealand, 2011.
The Sea Eagle.
North America in 2021.
Northern Lapwing.
Canada, 1927.
There is a pigeon in the Nicobar Islands.
Australia, 2017.
There is a falcon.
Saint Paul Island was built in 1999.
The Emperor Penguin.
New Zealand, 2011.
The Sea Eagle.
North America in 2021.
Northern Lapwing.
Canada, 1927.
There is a pigeon in the Nicobar Islands.
Australia, 2017.
The Emperor Penguin.
New Zealand, 2011.
There is a falcon.
Saint Paul Island was built in 1999.
Vagrancy in Birds is a new book that argues that vagrancy is not always a tale of misfortune, but a sign of trouble.
Alexander Lees is a co-author of the book and a senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University in England.
The whole vault of heaven was described in 1895 by a German ornithologist.
mental maps are refined during the first journeys of life.
An internal clock is used to measure elapsed time. They can use the sun, stars, patterns of light and the Earth's magnetic field to determine orientation.
Most will successfully migrate their entire lives. The navigation system is not error-proof.
Unusual weather patterns can change a bird's flight path. A spray of Lapwings across the Atlantic Ocean to Newfoundland was caused by a cold spell combined with an easterly wind. As far north as the British Isles, there are glossy ibises from the Mediterranean.
Robert Davis is a wildlife biologist at Edith Cowan University in Australia.
A juvenile emperor penguin washed up on Peka Peka Beach in New Zealand in June of 2011. The marooned bird mistook wet sand for snow and ended up in the animal hospital at Wellington Zoo, where he 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 The penguin returned to the sea with a one-inch chip under his right thigh and a three-inch satellite transmitter on his lower back, but they both stopped sending signals after five days.
That's a typical ending for a vagrant, but that doesn't mean there isn't more to the story.
"Vagrancy is more than just something that happens accidentally," said Ram.
The long-term impact of a single vagrant can be profound.
A lone goose detached from a flock of its own feather might link up with another waterfowl species, year after year, eventually producing hybrid offspring. New populations can be established by vagrants, where they successfully breed, migrate or overwinter. Even if a bird dies alone, it can seed new life-forms in the landscape by carrying parasites, pathogens, plants and even live fish eggs and brine shrimp cysts on their feet or in their feathers.
vagrants can wreak havoc on native bird species.
At least 27 MacGillivray's prions were killed by a vagrant peregrine falcon on Saint Paul Island in the Indian Ocean in 1999. Four percent of the Laysan ducks that had just been translocated to the Midway Atoll were killed in 2006 by vagrants of the same raptor species.
Humans intervene to prevent invasions. A pigeon suspected of flying across the Indian Ocean was discovered in northwestern Australia. The pigeon was taken into custody by officials from the country's agriculture department and then transferred to the zoo. It wasn't released into the wild again. A racing pigeon named Joe was euthanized in Australia after he went missing from Oregon and months later showed up 8,000 miles away.
The barn owl is believed to have traveled from England to Afghanistan in the hold of a military aircraft, and other scenarios show the role humanity plays in punting bird species far from their origins.
The number of bird vagrants has increased in recent years. Dr. Davis noted in a paper that Australia had a total of 329 vagrant birds over the course of 60 years. From 2000 to 2017, that figure doubled to 617 cases.
Shannon Curley, a Biologist at the College of Staten Island who studies the effects of climate, said that they are seeing more vagrant birds in the United States.
More eyes on the sky is one of the reasons for the increase. Today's bird-watchers are better equipped than ever to identify unfamiliar birds and record their appearances with publicly available citizen science tools.
He and other experts think there is a more complicated dynamic for the many species that wander long distances.
We think of ranges as stable in time and space. Dr. Lees of Manchester Metropolitan University said that ranges can change.
The scientists argue that gryphony might help species chart an escape route from climate change and habitat destruction. A few pioneers can look for new places to live as their former homes become unlivable.
The Chinese crested tern was thought to be extinct after being last seen in 1937. In 2000 and again a few years later, biologists rediscovered the species at sites in China and Taiwan where it hadn't bred before. Scientists found two Chinese crested tern pairs on an island in South Korea. The population is only about 50 birds and is threatened by egg-poaching and typhoons. The Korean nest site means the future of this species looks better now.
Scientists emphasized the difficulty of unpacking the role of vagrants in a species's adaptation.
For her own research, she set up mist nets on a Nova Scotia island to catch vagrants. She netted 29 in two years. She admitted that it was a small sample size for a scientific study.
In the absence of a solid understanding of their journeys, humans have often written off bird vagrants as wind blown.
There is a historical narrative about vagrants that needs to be lost. They have to be revolting. There is something wrong with them.
She said that the ability to explore or see another way could prove to be an advantage in the face of climate change.
She said that they are more likely to survive.
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