[mou] Jaeger mania redux

[Peder Svingen]

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
>
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