Currently, I am leading another Hokkaido photo tour expedition in Shiretoko National Park Hokkaido Japan. The other day participants and I cast we cast off on our chartered ship for an up-close and personal encounter with the magnificent Steller’s Sea Eagle on pack-ice, the Stellar’s Sea Eagle’s natural feeding winter habitat.

 The Steller's Sea Eagle is one of the largest and most fierce diurnal birds on Earth. These Eagles are huge, on average the heaviest raptor on our planet, weighing up to 10 kg (22 pounds). They are also tall measuring up to 94cm (3 ft), with a huge wingspan of up to 250 cm (8.2ft). Their plumage is blackish brown black all over except on the shoulders, rump, tail thighs and forehead which are white. Their big bill is Yellow and wickedly hooked, with raw force they quickly slice through the flesh of their prey and devour it. The Eagles are masters at fishing it’s incredible to watch as they swoop down and catch fish in their talons.

They prefer a diet of trout, salmon or other fish but will eat sea lion or land species when fishing is slow. The Steller's Sea Eagle is protected by law and is designated as a National Treasure in Japan, and is listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List of Endangered species. Around 5000 remain in the wild, and over 2000 visit Japan every winter. I photographed these Stellar's Sea Eagles, White Tailed Eagles with the Nikon D850 and Sigma’s 120-300mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Sport with Sigma’s 1.4x teleconverter giving me a focal range 168-420mm. Our ship's captain jammed us in the pack ice with the rising sun to our backs; I took the images between 1/2000th-1/3200th, f/8 - f/11, ISO 500.

If you would like to photograph the Steller’s Sea Eagle in 2019 - 2020 CLICK HERE or reserve, your spot at Rockhopper Workshops The Exclusive provider of Luminous Landscape workshops.