Peder Svingen and I met on Park Point this evening to see if we could see any of the jaegers that have been seen over on Wisconsin Point. While birding at the dune bridge of Park Point recreation area, near the Sky Harbor airport, we saw a total of 7 Parasitic Jaegers, which ties the high count for this species in Minnesota (7 were previously seen by Kim Eckert on 14 September 1980 in Duluth). Our total tonight included 4 light adults (or near-adults), 1 dark morph (probably the same dark third-year subadult which has been seen at WI point), and 2 different light-morph second-year subadults. Although seen at different times, both light subadults were seen flying by our vantage from southeast to northwest, one of which flew far out onto the lake in front of us and landed on the water, while the other was last seen flying down the shore toward Canal Park, where we lost it when it became several miles away. At one point, we saw a flock of 5 jaegers flying around near the Superior Entry (but on the Minnesota side), about two miles away, including 1 dark and 4 light morphs, and later we saw a flock of 4 light morph adult-type Parasitics flying across our vantange point from southeast to northwest, in an approximate line from the end of the Superior Entry towards Brighton Beach. It is interesting that all our jaegers tonight were headed northwest toward the north shore of Lake Superior, far into Minnesota waters, even though most jaeger sightings in Duluth-Superior occur over on WI point near the landfill where thousands of gulls concentrate. These birds appeared to be heading to roost. Winds were moderate 7-12 mph from the E-NE all day today, which is thought to be good for spotting jaegers along Park Point. Earlier today (at about 9:30 am), I found an adult Long-tailed Jaeger on Wisconsin Point near lot 1, along with at least 4 Parasitic Jaegers (1 dark subadult and 3 light adults/subadults). At one point all 5 of these jaegers coursed the waters near the beach together in one flock, with the Long-tailed readily joining the Parasitics. I posted some photos of this bird to www.pbase.com/karlbardon/jaegers.
Karl Bardon Duluth, MN ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html