I had some doubts too, but I sent the pictures to a friend in California,
Stanley Walens, that specializes in Seabirds - and sees thousands of Pomerain
and Parasitic Jaeger on the west coast while leading seabird trips.
Here is what he had to say:
well you should be completely certain of the long-tailed
that's a loooong tail
plus look at the black trailing edge to the wing and the contrast between
flight feathers and coverts
the other one is a parasitic
size as big if not bigger than ring-billed gull
dark cap that does not extend onto chin
bill long [too long for long-tailed]
warm reddish tone of upper side
unicolored upper wing [primary coverts are darker but otherwise the wing's
pretty uniform]
white at the base of the primaries on the upperwing
pretty extensive white at the base of the primaries on the underwing
more than 2-4 primaries with white shafts
lack of barring on uppertail coverts
restricted pale edges on the back and upperwing coverts; not patterned enough
for long-tailed
pale breast
mottled, not barred, pattern to breast and belly
pointed
central rectrices [most noticeable in the shot of the birds's
underside] {the two central rectrices on a long-tailed are rounded, and
barely extend beyond the other tail feathers] {{this last feature, plus
the cap not extending below the base of the bill, eliminate pomarine}}
I have about 30 images of the bird that I did not post that helped lead me to
my identification. I am certainly open to discussing the bird.
Regards,
Terry Brashear
Hennepin County, MN
http://www.naturepixels.com
birdnird AT yahoo.com
--- On Sat, 10/23/10, Stefanie Moss <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Stefanie Moss <[email protected]>
Subject: [mou-net] You say potato
To: [email protected]
Date: Saturday, October 23, 2010, 5:59 AM
After looking at the many jaeger photos being posted, it seems to me that
one person¹s pomarine is another person¹s parasitic. What am I missing?
Has Mr. Eckert had a ³second look²? The photos are wonderful in any event.
Thanks,
Kurt
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