Kevin S. Lucas
Jaeger 2016-10-05 ©Kevin S Lucas
Edit Oct 20: the biggest thing making it hard to put this as a Long-tailed Jaeger is the large amount of white on the upperwing primaries -- most of their bases are white, maybe 7 feathers. Also it impressed us with how powerfully it flew, and me with how far down its wings went on the downbeat. I even did an imitation of that. I wish I had a full profile photo of it while resting, to show the primary extension past the tail. That might help.
I've received the explanation from Brad, including comments by other expert birders. I'll try to put it in a coherent form and post it here shortly, ditching some of the gobbledygook below.
[Edit October 18: I got word from eBird reviewer Brad Waggoner that this is not a Parasitic Jaeger, but rather is a Long-tailed Jaeger. If so, it's a Yakima County first.
Once I receive an explanation of why how it was determined to be a Long-tailed rather than a Parasitic Jaeger, I'll post it here, and probably post some of my still photos if they show any of the pertinent distinctions.]
[Edit October 19: But wait: I've been reviewing my photos and some from Karen Zook. I continue to see in them what appeared to us as we looked at the bird, that the central tail feathers were distinctly pointed, not blunt. That shows in numerous still photos and 51 frame captures from this video. I continue to think of this bird as brown, not gray or "cold". Gray, to me, is a something between black and white, a light shade of black. Brown to me is the classic color of mud or dirt. Some rocks in this photo appear grayish to me. Most rocks appear brown, like the bird. The profile of the head, when viewed from the side (not from an angle), appears somewhat blocky, not neatly rounded "dovelike" (at :43 seconds in this video). The bill appears more slender than blocky. It shows almost no gonydeal angle. The outer thirty to forty percent (less than half) of the bill (again in perfect profile, as at :43 seconds into this video) is dark.
Shown decently in photos by Karen Zook of this bird are what look like 7 or 8 primary feathers with white on the dorsal (upper) surface. On the outer 2 or three primaries, the white seems to extend almost the length of the feather. This shows in the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 8th, and 10th of her photos posted on Smugmug at:
fitzbew.smugmug.com/Rimrock-Jaeger-10-5-16/i-3FB92vK
There the underwing coverts do not appear lighter than the flanks.
To me, using the Sibley Guide to Birds, Second Edition, these all point toward Parasitic Jaeger, over Long-tailed Jaeger. I'll keep studying it, next referring to Cornell's amazing Birds of North America Online.]
BNA Online seems to contrast with Sibley regarding the central tail feathers (retrices).
Sibley: central tail feathers blunt tipped on juvenile, pointed on older birds.
BNA Online: "Birds in Juvenile plumage have central rectrices with rounded tips (pointed in Parasitic Jaegers; Løppenthin 1932 , Walter 1962 ) and outer primaries with rounded tips (only in fresh plumage; De Korte 1985 , Melville 1985 ), but they acquire pointed rectrices during first winter while still in brownish, barred plumage....Rounded central rectrices of Juvenile plumage lost by Nov and usually replaced by pointed rectrices."
But maybe this is what Sibley is referring to as an "older bird" -- not juvenile, but not adult.
Yesterday evening I was trying to decide whether to join the Zooks on their field trip today. I was hoping none of the local problem listers would be on the trip, and saw the forecast for 80% chance of rain showers. As far as weather I'm spoiled here in Yakima County, Washington. I mentioned the cruddy forecast to Mary, and she said it's good Parasitic Jaeger weather. A couple of years ago, with a huge storm system upon us, we cancelled a planned trip to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Instead we went to Rimrock Lake where we found Yakima County's first Parasitic Jaeger, a light adult, on September 28th, 2013.*
www.flickr.com/photos/58148027@N07/9990255786/in/datetaken/
It was in rather cruddy weather. Neither of us had seen a jaeger before, or how to spell jaeger, or even knew what one looked like. It took lots of wondering and wandering through my Sibley's guide, which got thoroughly soaked and pretty much wrecked in the process. Good friends Mike & Alice Roper showed up there by chance, and we took them down to see it. I called Richard Repp who spread the word. Several birders and listers got to see it. Lamont MacLachlan photo documented its presence 3 days later.
ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31912745
Today as this one flew our way I think a couple of people commented something about a really dark bird. I had the temerity to call out Parasitic Jaeger, long before such an identification was sure. One of numerous such blurts from me today. I think most of us got to see the white markings on the flight feathers. I commented how they looked a bit like the markings on Nighthawks, and Joe Zook commented bout how steady its wing beats were as it flew out of sight. We moved down to Horseshoe Cove hoping to see it again. (I missed catching that Joe spotted it while we were looking at a Hairy Woodpecker where we'd parked.) I went to a high point a bit east of the boat ramp to look for it, but soon got distracted by Surf Scoters and Western Grebes and Common Mergansers and such. Shortly after everyone else had headed back to the cars I actually looked eastward for it and saw it on the beach. A whistle and hollar to the group brought them back. All of us got nice views, and the Zooks did very well, making sure that when we moved to another vantage point that we waited for Mike who was going back to the car for his camera. Nobody clomped ahead while spouting off, nor scared it off with a clanking setup of their tripod. It was nice to not have any of the local problem bird listers in our midst.
Karen Zook posted a nice write-up of the trip on BirdYak. She kindly forwarded a copy of her post to me (to get past Denny Grandstander's blocking me from posting to or receiving posts from that Yahoo! group -- his retaliation for my efforts to discourage unethical and illegal behavior by four prominent Yakima County bird listers.)
Please always consider the sensitivity of birds, nearby humans, and the environment.
Please read, PRACTICE, and promote the ABA Code of Birding Ethics.
*A Parasitic Jaeger had been reported 7 miles south of Beverly, Washington. That is along the Columbia River in Grant County, just east of Yakima County. Yakima County's most prominent bird lister considers that to be a sighting in Yakima County. Jaegers are birds, creatures that fly, so that bird certainly could have flown into Yakima County, but it was not documented in Yakima County, regardless of how much Andy is loath to give due credit when I find rare birds.
Jaeger 2016-10-05 ©Kevin S Lucas
Edit Oct 20: the biggest thing making it hard to put this as a Long-tailed Jaeger is the large amount of white on the upperwing primaries -- most of their bases are white, maybe 7 feathers. Also it impressed us with how powerfully it flew, and me with how far down its wings went on the downbeat. I even did an imitation of that. I wish I had a full profile photo of it while resting, to show the primary extension past the tail. That might help.
I've received the explanation from Brad, including comments by other expert birders. I'll try to put it in a coherent form and post it here shortly, ditching some of the gobbledygook below.
[Edit October 18: I got word from eBird reviewer Brad Waggoner that this is not a Parasitic Jaeger, but rather is a Long-tailed Jaeger. If so, it's a Yakima County first.
Once I receive an explanation of why how it was determined to be a Long-tailed rather than a Parasitic Jaeger, I'll post it here, and probably post some of my still photos if they show any of the pertinent distinctions.]
[Edit October 19: But wait: I've been reviewing my photos and some from Karen Zook. I continue to see in them what appeared to us as we looked at the bird, that the central tail feathers were distinctly pointed, not blunt. That shows in numerous still photos and 51 frame captures from this video. I continue to think of this bird as brown, not gray or "cold". Gray, to me, is a something between black and white, a light shade of black. Brown to me is the classic color of mud or dirt. Some rocks in this photo appear grayish to me. Most rocks appear brown, like the bird. The profile of the head, when viewed from the side (not from an angle), appears somewhat blocky, not neatly rounded "dovelike" (at :43 seconds in this video). The bill appears more slender than blocky. It shows almost no gonydeal angle. The outer thirty to forty percent (less than half) of the bill (again in perfect profile, as at :43 seconds into this video) is dark.
Shown decently in photos by Karen Zook of this bird are what look like 7 or 8 primary feathers with white on the dorsal (upper) surface. On the outer 2 or three primaries, the white seems to extend almost the length of the feather. This shows in the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 8th, and 10th of her photos posted on Smugmug at:
fitzbew.smugmug.com/Rimrock-Jaeger-10-5-16/i-3FB92vK
There the underwing coverts do not appear lighter than the flanks.
To me, using the Sibley Guide to Birds, Second Edition, these all point toward Parasitic Jaeger, over Long-tailed Jaeger. I'll keep studying it, next referring to Cornell's amazing Birds of North America Online.]
BNA Online seems to contrast with Sibley regarding the central tail feathers (retrices).
Sibley: central tail feathers blunt tipped on juvenile, pointed on older birds.
BNA Online: "Birds in Juvenile plumage have central rectrices with rounded tips (pointed in Parasitic Jaegers; Løppenthin 1932 , Walter 1962 ) and outer primaries with rounded tips (only in fresh plumage; De Korte 1985 , Melville 1985 ), but they acquire pointed rectrices during first winter while still in brownish, barred plumage....Rounded central rectrices of Juvenile plumage lost by Nov and usually replaced by pointed rectrices."
But maybe this is what Sibley is referring to as an "older bird" -- not juvenile, but not adult.
Yesterday evening I was trying to decide whether to join the Zooks on their field trip today. I was hoping none of the local problem listers would be on the trip, and saw the forecast for 80% chance of rain showers. As far as weather I'm spoiled here in Yakima County, Washington. I mentioned the cruddy forecast to Mary, and she said it's good Parasitic Jaeger weather. A couple of years ago, with a huge storm system upon us, we cancelled a planned trip to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Instead we went to Rimrock Lake where we found Yakima County's first Parasitic Jaeger, a light adult, on September 28th, 2013.*
www.flickr.com/photos/58148027@N07/9990255786/in/datetaken/
It was in rather cruddy weather. Neither of us had seen a jaeger before, or how to spell jaeger, or even knew what one looked like. It took lots of wondering and wandering through my Sibley's guide, which got thoroughly soaked and pretty much wrecked in the process. Good friends Mike & Alice Roper showed up there by chance, and we took them down to see it. I called Richard Repp who spread the word. Several birders and listers got to see it. Lamont MacLachlan photo documented its presence 3 days later.
ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31912745
Today as this one flew our way I think a couple of people commented something about a really dark bird. I had the temerity to call out Parasitic Jaeger, long before such an identification was sure. One of numerous such blurts from me today. I think most of us got to see the white markings on the flight feathers. I commented how they looked a bit like the markings on Nighthawks, and Joe Zook commented bout how steady its wing beats were as it flew out of sight. We moved down to Horseshoe Cove hoping to see it again. (I missed catching that Joe spotted it while we were looking at a Hairy Woodpecker where we'd parked.) I went to a high point a bit east of the boat ramp to look for it, but soon got distracted by Surf Scoters and Western Grebes and Common Mergansers and such. Shortly after everyone else had headed back to the cars I actually looked eastward for it and saw it on the beach. A whistle and hollar to the group brought them back. All of us got nice views, and the Zooks did very well, making sure that when we moved to another vantage point that we waited for Mike who was going back to the car for his camera. Nobody clomped ahead while spouting off, nor scared it off with a clanking setup of their tripod. It was nice to not have any of the local problem bird listers in our midst.
Karen Zook posted a nice write-up of the trip on BirdYak. She kindly forwarded a copy of her post to me (to get past Denny Grandstander's blocking me from posting to or receiving posts from that Yahoo! group -- his retaliation for my efforts to discourage unethical and illegal behavior by four prominent Yakima County bird listers.)
Please always consider the sensitivity of birds, nearby humans, and the environment.
Please read, PRACTICE, and promote the ABA Code of Birding Ethics.
*A Parasitic Jaeger had been reported 7 miles south of Beverly, Washington. That is along the Columbia River in Grant County, just east of Yakima County. Yakima County's most prominent bird lister considers that to be a sighting in Yakima County. Jaegers are birds, creatures that fly, so that bird certainly could have flown into Yakima County, but it was not documented in Yakima County, regardless of how much Andy is loath to give due credit when I find rare birds.