Although uncommon enough that it's always going to be an exciting sighting
(I've never seen one away from the salt-chuck, and would love to!), jaeger
reports from the mountains shouldn't be seen as anything too crazy or
unbelievable. Many more jaegers move down the inside pasage, than ever make
it to Victoria or Vancouver. And many of the jaegers seen in those
locations, may have come down over the coast range, rather than following
the maze of the inside passage. Pomarine, Parasitic, and Long-tailed Jaegers
have been seen turning inland around central Vancouver Island, and the
assumption is that they are heading across the interior mountains for the
open Pacific. In the Dep Bay area north of Qualicum Beach, jaegers moving
inland face about a 100 km journey over mountains that average above 1000
meters. If you were up there, you might see one, but who is ever up there at
this time of year, and who knows if they typically move at an altitude that
would allow detection? In the Nanaimo area, Parasitic Jaegers are seen
leaving the Strait of Georgia and flying up the Nanaimo River every
September. For a bird which is not terribly common here, the number of
reports of this are surprising. Nobody has ever reported one coming back
down river, so again, the assumption is that they are crossing the interior
mountains to reach the Pacific Ocean. Jaegers are well known for showing up
at locations in the interior of BC and Washington, so really, seeing one in
the foothills on the east-side, is probably a rare treat, but not a totally
accidental occurance.
Recently I have been involved in research using radar to track migrants
on the NW tip of Vancouver Island. Although the densities of nocturnal
migrants on some evenings can be a mind blower. However, what really
surprised me were the numbers of diurnal birds that were moving at altitudes
that made visual detection impossible. From the target size, speed, time of
year and direction of travel, our assumption has been that many of these
unidentified targets were loons and gulls on their way from the interior of
Canada to the Pacific. But who knows what is going on beyond our rather
limited range of sight and hearing? A jaeger here and there in the mountains
actually makes more sense than one might initially think.
a very interesting topic,
Guy L. Monty
Parksville, BC