My fingers and toes vibrated with anticipation as I slid out of the passenger-side door on a small road in Georgetown, Maine, about 45 miles northeast of Portland. Camera bag slung over my shoulder and binoculars in hand, I half-walked, half-jogged down the street toward the town’s wharf, my stomach clenching more with every step. My mother and I had driven more than an hour to be here on New Year’s Eve, furiously refreshing the Maine Audubon and The Birdist Twitter feeds over and over to answer one simple question: Was the Steller’s Sea-Eagle still here?

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