The white-bellied sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster)

Its wednesday and after our mammal from last week, its time for a bird, and here we have the wonderful White-bellied sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) This is an eagle that you can see all year round in Hong Kong, and this huge eagle is also known as the white-breasted sea eagle.

These typically patrol further offshore, but you can see them high in the sky over sai kung sometimes, in pairs or with young; or you can get lucky sometimes like here, when the bird flew near the pier.

This bird is a large diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae The white-bellied sea eagle is a striking coastal raptor, typically measuring 75–85 cm in length and boasting a wingspan of up to ~2.2 m. Adults display white head, underparts and tail, with slate-grey upperparts and black flight feathers visible in the six-foot-plus span. Females are slightly larger than males, weighing up to ~4.5 kg in some records. Globally the species is listed as Least Concern, yet it is thinly scattered across its range from South Asia to Australia. In Hong Kong fewer than two dozen breeding pairs are known, often nesting on remote islets and facing mounting pressures from shoreline development and dwindling fish stocks. In Hong Kong the breeding pairs survive as a fragile success story. Most nest on remote islands, well away from people, perhaps recalling generations of human egg theft. Yet some adapt, nesting on pylons, piers, or even amid city skylines. Not all survive the proximity: Lantau’s only breeding pair vanished soon after Disneyland opened nearby, fireworks and lasers replacing their calls.

The species is monogamous, with pairs remaining together until one bird dies, after which the surviving bird quickly seeks a new mate. This means that they return to the same nesting sites....which sometimes you can see from the ferry/boats out in the ocean near Sai Kung. Here is a 2009 record of their nesting sites, which shows that they do not like proximity to each otehr......

Here a juvenile with darker wings with an adult.

This one was being rehabilitated in Kadoorie Farm