Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Home
Today's Show: Wandering Albatross Molt
Wandering Albatross flying low over the water, it's long gray wings stretched out, white body held horizontal, pink beak
Listen In
  • Today's Show
  • Listen
    • Daily Shows
    • Threatened
    • Grouse
    • BirdNote Presents
    • How to Listen
  • Explore
    • Field Notes
    • Sights & Sounds
    • Birdwatching
    • Resources for Educators
  • How to Help Birds
    • At Home
    • In Your Community
    • Success Stories
  • About
    • The BirdNote Story
    • The Team
    • Partners
    • For Radio Stations
    • Funding
    • Contact Us
    • FAQs
    • Support BirdNote
  • Donate

Steller's Birds

Eagles, jays, eiders - and mammals, too!
Subscribe to the Podcast
Download
  • Share This:
  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to Email
Steller's Sea Eagle poised in flight above water, about to catch prey
© Sascha Wenninger

In July, 1741, Georg Wilhelm Steller set foot on land later known as Alaska, the first European to do so. Steller was a German naturalist on the St. Peter, a Russian ship exploring the Bering Sea. He was shipwrecked on Bering Island for over a year, and later wrote a book about the creatures that lived on the island. Many were ultimately named for this adventurous and feisty German, including this Steller's Sea Eagle, the Steller's Jay, and the Steller's Eider.

Support for BirdNote comes from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, presenting its new “Bird Photography” online course, featuring Melissa Groo. Learn more at academy.allaboutbirds.org.

  • Full Transcript
  • Credits

BirdNote®

Steller’s Birds

Adapted from a script by Frances Wood

This is BirdNote!
[Steller’s Jay calling]
This loud, raucous call belongs to a common jay of the Western states, the Steller’s Jay.
[Steller’s Jay calling]
You might mistakenly call this bird a Blue Jay, seeing its bright cobalt-blue body. But when the Steller’s Jay was first discovered, the name “Blue Jay” had already been assigned to a different species of jay living in the Eastern United States
You might guess that the word “Steller” describes an exceptional jay, [Steller’s Jay scolding] but Steller, spelled s-t-e-l-l-E-r, comes instead from a man’s name.
It was back in July of 1741 that Georg Wilhelm Steller, the first European to set foot on land later known as Alaska, first sighted this jay. Steller was a German naturalist on the St. Peter, a Russian ship exploring the Bering Sea.
[Waves and creaking of a ship]
Shortly after finding and describing this jay, Steller was shipwrecked on Bering Island for over a year.
Steller wrote a book about the creatures that lived on the island. Many were later named for this adventurous and feisty German, among them the Steller’s Sea Eagle and the Steller’s Eider.
There’s more information about the Steller’s Jay [Steller’s Jay calling] — and all the other birds named for Steller — on our website, BirdNote.org.  I’m Mary McCann.
Support for BirdNote comes from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, presenting its new “Bird Photography” online course, featuring Melissa Groo. Learn more at academy.allaboutbirds.org.
###

Sounds of the Steller’s Jay provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Call recorded by L.J. Peyton, scold by W.W.H. Gunn.
Ambient sounds provided by Kessler Production
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2012 Tune In to Nature.org     July 2017/2020     Narrator: Mary McCann

gwsteller-01-2009-07-26    stellergw-01b

Frances Wood
Writer
Mary McCann
Narrator
Support More Shows Like This
Tagshistory

Related Resources

Steller's Sea Eagle - More at SanDiegoZoo.orgSteller's Eider - More at All About BirdsLearn more about Georg Wilhelm StellerSteller's Jay - More at All About Birds

More About These Birds

Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)

Cyanocitta stelleri

Sights & Sounds

Related Field Notes

March 23, 2017

Chandler Robbins, In Memoriam

By Rick Wright
Chandler Robbins, July 1
November 23, 2013

In Celebration of the Wild Turkey

By Ellen Blackstone
 

Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

Support BirdNote

  • Daily Shows
  • Field Notes
  • BirdNote Presents
  • Sights & Sounds
  • About BirdNote
  • Contact BirdNote
Sign up for our newsletter!
  • BirdNote on Facebook
  • BirdNote on Twitter
  • BirdNote on Instagram

Copyright 2021. All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy