Subject: [Tweeters] Parasitic Jaeger? -- Interesting msgs
Date: Oct 11 07:08:57 2007
From: Lynn & Carol Schulz - linusq at worldnet.att.net


Hi Tweeters:
Re: Parasitic Jaeger. I am reporting that seabird on my Seabird Survey form! I
received a number of VERY interesting msgs off-list about Jaegers in Puget Sound.
See them below. I also include Adam Sedgley's sighting of Parasitic Jaegers on the
same day as I saw one. His sighting was just to the north of Des Moines, in Burien.
His msg did not come through on my Tweeters individual messages (it only came through
on the web), so I include part of his msg below.
My original msg to Tweets on Oct 7 was about a P. Jaeger flying north low to the
water past Des Moines (central Puget Sound) just after high tide on Oct 6. I asked
whether that is what I could have seen. Please see the replies and Adam's msg below.
Yours, Carol Schulz

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Price" <loblollyboy at gmail.com>
To: <linusq at worldnet.att.net>
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 10:38 PM
Subject: Jaeger? -- private reply


Carol

Yep, description's pretty dang good for a Parasitic Jaeger. Can't speak to
the other jaeger species, but Paras on the move---at least the ones I've
seen on inland protected passages such as Strait of Georgia and Puget
Sound---stay close to the water and fly in a straight line with precisely
the type of wingbeat you describe. Also, they'll glide for long stretches
when they feel like it. It's when they see a feeding opportunity---i.e., a
chance to rip off some tern or gull---that they turn on the burners and go
from gull to peregrine. Large flocks of Common terns and Bonaparte's Gulls
under attacks will often mass up tight like shorebirds in panic flight and
sometimes go up hundreds of feet above the water to evade jaegers or
peregrines, and the jaegers will often follow them up there.

Interesting sidelight to some stuff I was doing with arrival and departure
dates in Vancouver BC a few years ago. I was trying to figure out migration
windows for rarities such as Pom and Long-tailed Jaegers and noticed that LT
Jaeger sightings here coincided with the migration window of another rarity
here, Arctic tern. Well, makes sense: both are primarily oceanic and come
into interior passages rarely, same with Poms and California Gulls: when
Californias are migrating along the coast is when the chances of seeing Poms
here increases. The relationship between Paras and Bonaparte's and Common
Terns, both shallow-water divers and pickers in shallow deltas and
rivermouths, is pretty straightforward, but the other two aren't so obvious.
That may work for Puget Sound as well as for Strait of Georgia.
best wishes
Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
loblollyboy at gmail.com

>From Doug Watkins, Oct 7, 2007
Carol, it was very possible you saw a Parasitic Jaeger. Yesterday [Oct 6],
Brad Waggoner, George Gerdts and myself had 4 off Restoration Point which is
directly aross from Alki at the southern tip of Bainbridge Is. They were doing
their usual thing, chasing gulls.
Regards, Doug Watkins
Bainbridge Is.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marv Breece" <mbreece at earthlink.net>
To: "Lynn & Carol Schulz" <linusq at worldnet.att.net>
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2007 8:34 AM
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Seabird Survey - Possible P. Jaeger at Des Moines
Hi Carol,

I saw a Parasitic Jaeger from the beach at Discovery Park in Seattle on Sept 26 of
this year. The bird was close enough for me to be certain that it was a jaeger. It
was flying
very low to the water going north. It flew in a straight line without slowing or
veering off course. I watched it until it was out of sight. At that time, there
were no Common Terns or Bonaparte's Gulls in the area. And the bird was alone.
Sounds very similar to your sighting. Hope this helps.
Marv
Marv Breece
Seattle, WA
mbreece at earthlink.net


>From Adam Sedgley to Tweeters, Oct 9, 2007 (a portion of his msg)
Hi Carol (and Tweets).

Sorry for the late post but I completed two survey sites as well in
Burien: Three Tree Pt and Seahurst Park (for a volunteer who was out of
town), just north of you Carol. I actually had a surprising amount of
bird activity given the date with highlights being TWO light-phase
PARASITIC JAEGERS out in the middle of the sound and a fly-by Common
Murre at Three Tree Pt and a juvenile PEREGRINE FALCON chasing a crow
right over my head and scattering a bunch of gulls at Seahurst Park.

THREE TREE PT:
Surf Scoter (7)
White-winged Scoter (1 fly-by)
Red-breasted Merganser (1)
Horned Grebe (1)
Red-necked Grebe (10+)
Western Grebe (2)
Double-crested Cormorant (4)
PARASITIC JAEGER (2)
Bonaparte's Gull (1)
Mew Gull (3)
California Gull (6)
Glaucous-winged Gull (1)
GWGUxWEGU hybrid (2)
COMMON MURRE (flyby)
Pigeon Guillemot (2 - molting into winter plumage)

Reported by Carol Schulz. Thanks to everyone for the replies!
Carol Schulz
Des Moines, WA
linusq at att.net