Hi all,
With a moderate SW wind blowing onshore, as we sunned on the beach at
parking Lot #9, I saw a flock of Bonaparte's Gulls a fair distance out. My
brother and his wife were visiting from Princeton NJ and we were planning to
walk down the beach to look for shorebirds. To my surprise I saw a light
juvenile Long -tailed Jaeger harassing the bonies and excitedly directed
Juris to the location (his NA list is only ~170!!) and he was finally able
to get on the bird. We both watched it on and off for ~5/6 mins before
losing it below the horizon.
About 10 mins later we again saw some agitated flight in the gulls in
same general area - I estimate that they were off beach parking # 3. As we
looked three Jaegers came into view - 2 of which were a bit larger and
showed more white in the wings, especially visible in the darker of these
two. We continued observing these three in turn, although I never had all 3
in my view at once after the first sighting.
What a fantastic double-header for J. and after I had said there was
no hope of seeing anything interesting on a SW wind. We also walked south
on the natural beach area and saw 21 Sanderling, 2 Lesser yellowlegs, 4
Herring Gull and many Ring-billed - also Common Terns numbered ~80 in a
steady stream closer to shore with just one Black Tern, as we sat 'watching
the show.
Cheers! Maris
Maris Apse
10094 Red Pine Road, Box 22,
RR #2 Grand Bend ON N0M 1T0
(519) 238 - 8415
