Haliaeetus pelagicus (‘‘niger’’) (1 Viewer)

M. Kaiser, 2010. A living specimen of the dark form of Steller’s Sea Eagle, Haliaeetus pelagicus (‘‘niger’’) in captivity. Journal of Ornithology, Online first.

Abstract: Berlin Tierpark has a breeding female of the dark form of Steller’s Sea Eagle Haliaeetus pelagicus (‘‘niger’’) . This is the first known specimen for about half a century and the first evidence that it is not a subspecies but just a colour phase.
...The parents were wild caught in 1983 in the region of Khabarovsk, Russia (Kurilovich 2007). Both show the normal-coloured plumage with white shoulders and rump...
...It is considered by some authors to be a separate species or a subspecies of pelagicus...

Given the obvious extreme rarity of the dark morph, it seems almost incredible that a pair of captive birds should produce an example! It's good to have this enigma fully resolved.

Richard

So the species is monotypic: interesting, thank you Peter.

I now realize that "color phase" can be used for a genetically controlled variation in the colors of plumage (= form/morph) as in this case, but also for colorings assumed by a bird varying with age or season.

In French it seems that only the second meaning is correct for "phase".

HEUDE, PM 1887. "Nouvelle espece d'aigle de Tartarie" Le Naturaliste, 9, no. 8, 1887, p. 95. (Original description, from a living specimen in Shanghai, of Haliaeetus niger from Korea.) Pierre Marie Heude, Jesuit missionary.

http://books.google.com/books?id=Si...&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false .

I think it is interesting both were living specimens .