I was fortunate last week to be able to see the Sabine's Gull at Point
Defiance, but despite two attempts, did not see any Jaegers. My wife Carole
and I took a drive up to Point No Point yesterday October 13th in the hope
of finding at least one of the Parasitic Jaegers reported there. We left in
the late morning and by the time we reached the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. the
clouds had burned off and it turned into a gorgeous, cloudless fall day.
When we reached Point No Point at about 2;00 pm, there were two large groups
of actively feeding BONAPARTE'S GULLS swirling around over the water. I
immediately spotted two or three larger brown gulls with them and got my
hopes up. Once I looked at them through my binoculars, they turned out to
have a black tail band - just some of the lingering "South of the Border"
HEERMANN'S GULLS! Sorting through the second group, it did not take long to
spot my first PARASITIC JAEGER chasing a Bonaparte's Gull. Once it pulled
up during the chase, the white front and wing patches were diagnostic. I
eventually saw more, but never had more than three in view at one time.
There are likely more than that at this location, as previously reported. My
wife and I walked south on the beach and enjoyed the terrific view of the
Seattle skyline with Mount Rainier looming in the back. When we returned,
the tide had slackened and there was little activity. Most Bonaparte's Gulls
where rafting on the water over towards Hansville. ( Now what did I do to
have that lovely town named after me?) There were a few of them still flying
about and another PARASITIC JAEGER lit into them. One of the Bonnie's
decided that it had enough of the big bully and turned the table on it.
Quite a sight to have a Bonaparte's Gull chasing a Parasitic Jaeger for a
change and being able to stay with the Jaeger and matching its moves in the
aerial dogfight! I was rooting for the underdog!
I was about to put my scope back into the car, when I spotted a Jay in the
blackberry bushes at the parking lot. I did not get a good look at it, but
it suspiciously looked like a WESTERN SCRUB JAY! I chased it down at the big
holly tree in the back of the light keepers residence and it flew off
towards the hedge along the path between wetlands and the beach. There I was
able to have a good look at it and indeed it was a WESTERN SCRUB JAY. When I
returned to the car, a second Jay flew into the tree row behind the house
and I had two in view at the same time. What a nice bonus!
We stopped at the park at the Hansville General Store and had the good
fortune to run into Brad Waggoner. Brad had a Jaeger sitting on the water in
his scope, which appeared to be the juvenile LONG-TAILED JAEGER previously
observed at this location. When it finally flew, it started chasing a
PARASITIC JAEGER. This gave us an excellent size comparison, with the
smaller size of the Long-tailed quite obvious. Thanks for finding it Brad!
We ended the day at Foulweather Bluff with a few more birds for the day. I
had never been there before- what a beautiful spot!

Good Birding!

Hans Feddern
Twin Lakes/Federal Way, WA.
thefedderns at gmail.com
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