In this Dec. 31, 2021, photo provided by Zachary Holderby, a Steller’s sea eagle is seen off Georgetown, Maine. The rare eagle has taken up residence thousands of miles from its home range, delighting bird lovers and baffling scientists.

GEORGETOWN, Maine — A rare species of eagle that has thrilled bird lovers and baffled scientists since arriving in Maine might not be in a hurry to leave.

The Steller’s sea eagle arrived in Maine in late December after a brief stop in Massachusetts more than a month ago. It has stuck to Maine’s middle coast, eating fish and ducks and attracting hundreds of birdwatchers from all over the world.

The sea eagle numbers only a few thousand worldwide and is native to northeastern Asia, including Russia and Japan, and has wingspans of up to 8 feet. The bird is far off course, and it’s still unclear why it came here at all, said Doug Hitchcox, staff naturalist at Maine Audubon.

But the bird doesn’t appear to be in any kind of danger, Hitchcox said. It has an ample food supply and is living in habitat that is similar enough to its native range, he said. It’s possible it could eventually return to its home range, but for now it’s comfortable in Maine, Hitchcox said.

“This one is so far off course, it’s just purely speculation to say it could go back and then return. There is no reason it couldn’t make its way back to Japan or Russia,” he said. “It seems to be doing OK.”

It’s not uncommon for vagrant bird species to return year after year to places far from their typical range. A single red-billed tropicbird, a species commonly seen in the Caribbean and tropical oceans, has been seen off Maine in the summer for years. Birders affectionately call it “Troppy.”

Maine’s lone Steller’s sea eagle is an adult, and its sex is not confirmed. It is sometimes seen around bald eagles, dwarfing the national symbol. The Steller’s, named for German naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller, is one of the largest eagles in the world, often weighing 13 to 20 pounds — twice as much as a bald eagle.

The bird drew dozens of onlookers to Reid State Park in Georgetown when it was first seen in Maine, and birdwatchers have continued to come to the state for weeks with no sign of stopping.

Allison Black, a birder from Connecticut, made the four-hour drive to see the bird. Many bird fans are relying on websites and social media channels set up to help people track the eagle.

“I took my mom with me, too, who isn’t a birder, but heard the story about the eagle and wanted to see it. We actually tried to see it back in December when it was in Massachusetts, but missed it by 10 minutes. That hurt,” she said. “I saw in the alerts that it flew not too long after we left, so I’m thankful we were at the right place at the right time to finally see it.”

U.S. says new intel shows Russia plotting false flag attack

WASHINGTON — The U.S. accused the Kremlin on Thursday, Feb. 3, of an elaborate plot to fabricate an attack by Ukrainian forces that Russia could use as a pretext to take military action against its neighbor.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the scheme included production of a graphic propaganda video that would show staged explosions and use corpses and actors depicting grieving mourners.

The plan for the fake attack on Russian territory or Russian-speaking people was revealed in declassified intelligence shared with Ukrainian officials and European allies in recent days. It is the latest allegation by the U.S. and Britain that Russia is plotting to use a false pretext to go to war against Ukraine.

The White House in December accused Russia of developing a “false-flag” operation to create pretext for an invasion. Britain recently named specific Ukrainians it accused of having ties to Russian intelligence officers plotting to overthrow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The U.S. also released a map of Russian military positions and detailed how officials believe Russia will try to attack Ukraine with as many as 175,000 troops.

“We’ve seen these kinds of activity by the Russians in the past, and we believe it’s important when we see it like this, and and we can, to call it out,” Kirby told reporters at the Pentagon.

The U.S. has not provided detailed information backing up the intelligence findings.

Kirby said that the Russians would also stage military equipment used by Ukraine and the West to bolster the credibility of the scheme.