ML132588301

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

My LIFER! Sam Stull spotted what he thought was a Jaeger and got me quickly on it. I kept it in view while Sam turned his camera to photograph the bird. We watched it fly over the open water before locating a Ring-billed Gull with food. The jaeger quickly closed the distance with quick, powered flight and engaged the gull. The two "dueled" in the air putting on a good show of banking, diving, and "dogfighting." Eventually, the gull dropped its catch and the jaeger gave chase in a dive before pulling up, realizing the catch had hit the water and disappeared. The jaeger was nearly the same size as the gull, appearing only slightly smaller. Noted only one white wing flash on primaries unlike double white flash on Pomarine. Central tail feathers were long and pointed, but not conspicuously so as in pictures of Long-tailed. The following images are Sam Stull's pictures taken while I was observing the bird next to him and are used here with his permission for eBird documentation. Thank you, Sam!

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

Lens

EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x

ISO

800

Focal length

700 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/800 sec

Dimensions

400 pixels x 537 pixels

Original file size

97.59 KB