The juvenile Pomarine Jaeger that has been intermittently seen in the Duluth area since at least 6 September showed exceptionally well this afternoon between about 2:30 and 5:30 PM off Lafayette Square/31st Street on Park Point. It was seen preening, sitting on the water, soaring, interacting with other jaegers, and repeatedly attacking Ring-billed and Bonaparte's Gulls--forcing them to disgorge their food. On a couple of occasions, the Pomarine flew directly overhead the group of astonished birders who gathered at Lafayette Square after Denny & Barb Martin got the word out. The group had close and repeated looks at all the field marks used to identify this species and compared the Pomarine to multiple Ring-billed Gulls and several Herring Gulls.
As if that weren't enough, at least six additional jaegers were seen during this time, including five jaegers in a single flock! Two were adult or near-adult light morphs and since all five were similar in size to one another and smaller than an average Ring-billed Gull, and since one of the five was a previously identified Parasitic, we concluded that all five jaegers were Parasitics. One of the juvenile Parasitics repeatedly attacked the Pomarine--showing its much more agile flight and tighter turns as compared to the Pomarine; it was significantly smaller than the Pomarine in bulk and wingspan, providing further support for calling this Pomarine a female. The possible Long-tailed Jaeger mentioned earlier was *not* refound this afternoon and there no sightings today of Arctic Tern. After a relatively calm morning, the winds at Park Point were unexpectedly brisk and easterly all afternoon. -- Peder H. Svingen Duluth, MN On Oct 1, 2006, at 2:15 PM, Peder Svingen wrote: > At least two jaegers (one light morph and one dark morph) have been > seen off Park Point in Duluth since early this morning. Denny & Barb > Martin also reported a juvenile Little Gull early this AM and again at > about 2:00 PM from Lafayette Square/31st Street on Park Pont. As of > 1:30 PM when I departed, no one had seen an Arctic Tern or any of the > unusual loons seen earlier in the week. > Denny just called to report a possible Long-tailed Jaeger chasing > Bonaparte's Gulls along the beach between Lafayette Square and Canal > Park. He said that its size was similar to or smaller than the > Bonaparte's Gull with grayish-brown upperparts and clean white > underparts. Its size was also compared to the dark morph jaeger that > we had previously identified as a Parasitic based on size comparisons > to Ring-billed Gulls, and the jaeger in question was much smaller than > the dark-morph Parasitic. > Denny & Barb and others will try to get additional looks at the bird > and post more information later today. > -- > Peder H. Svingen > Duluth, MN > > _______________________________________________ > mou-net mailing list > [email protected] > http://cbs.umn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mou-net
