ML608666677

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Virtually the only bird seen on the crossing, about one-third of the way across from Nanaimo. First assumed to be a gull, then realized it was a jaeger. It was flying along the port side of the ferry, then abruptly rose and crossed over the ferry to the starboard side and was lost. I only managed three photos. In the out of focus image the two or three white primary shafts show as a narrow white area. In the sharper photo, the overall colouration shows neutral or cool rather than buffy-warm as in Parasitic. Size was difficult to tell with no other birds to compare but did not seem robust. Photo shows slimmer belly, accentuating the chest more. Small pointed tail feathers match description for this species in Beaman and Madge, "Handbook of Bird Identification for Europe and the Western Palearctic". The gonydeal angle is somewhat obscured, but does not appear prominent as in Parasitic (Kaufmann "Advanced Birding"). A similar-looking immature bird (but not the same bird) was seen and photographed the previous day off Roberts Creek on the mainland shore.

Technical information

Model

NIKON D810

ISO

400

Focal length

500 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/4000 sec

Dimensions

3103 pixels x 2069 pixels

Original file size

1.18 MB