Hello everyone! It's been a while since I posted on the MOU listserve. This morning two Hawk Ridge friends and I went to Wisconsin Point at sunrise, and had a very successful morning! We observed:
Common Mergansers - 3 Scaup - 1 LONG-TAILED JAEGER - 1 Parasitic Jaeger - 2 Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull There was one other individual jaeger not mentioned in the previous tally of birds... when we first saw it fly by, it was much heavier and bulkier in appearance, with slightly slower wingbeats at full-speed. Our initial/overall impression was Pomarine Jaeger, but without photo evidence, I'm not too confident in making that call with jaegers just yet :) Attached is the link to 4 of my jaeger photos from today: http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/wisconsin_point_2009 The Long-tailed Jaeger was a life bird for me, and boy was I excited!! Note the grayish back contrasting with the black wing ends, tipped off at the outer primaries with thin 'strips' of white plumage (not a whole set of white primaries, as seen Pomarine and Parasitic Jaegers). This bird's wings do have a slender appearance, but I've seen Parasitic Jaegers with a somewhat slender-winged appearance as well. Please feel free to comment on the ID of these birds, as I am trying to understand jaeger ID from people who are more experienced with them! Here's the Long-tailed Jaeger photo: http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/117816367 I'll have more photos coming throughout this fall. I recently got a Canon 40D with a Canon 100-400 lens, and I am having a field day with my new toys. Good birdwatching, Erik Bruhnke Duluth, MN [email protected] www.pbase.com/birdfedr ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
