Zuchterfolg des Riesenseeadlers, Haliaeetus pelagicus, im Tierpark Berlin mit einem Weibchen der dunklen Morphe

Tierpark Berlin is keeping Steller's Sea Eagles since 1959 continuously without any breeding success till 2009. There was one egg laid in 1962 only. In 2001 we received a female from Tiergarten Nuremberg. At seven years of age this bird has moulted into its adult plumage this being all dark brown apart from the white tail. This is the only known present living specimen of this dark morph and the first known for several decades. As the parents show the normal coloured plumage this is the first evidence that niger doesn't exist as a subspecies but is a dark colour phase of pelagicus only. The dark coloured female was breeding with a normal coloured male in 2009 and one offspring was parent reared for the first time at Tierpark Berlin.