ML613400080

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

First-cycle intermediate morph; a bulky, generally brown Jaeger; round-headed with an unstreaked nape; upper and lower tail coverts barred black-on-white; underwing patterned with high contrast; bill bicolored (distal 1/3 black); white primary shafts difficult to interpret from my poor photo, but seemingly extensive; overall size quite large in comparison to the Mallards and the Bonaparte's Gull. I did see a very significant white underwing flash, not photographed. This is a continuing rarity found by Mennonite birders on 9 January and relocated yesterday afternoon. From my location on the north shore of the reservoir, I was able to get better looks than I would have from the south shore at this time of day; however, I had to look SSE and could not move further to the east because blocked by one of those Army Corps cliff sides dynamited into the bedrock. In fact I had already climbed as far I could onto the rocks. So, the light remained marginal, with shadow and glare both shearing into my views. When I finally found the Jaeger distantly through my scope, it appeared still to be sleeping among ducks and grebes. The bird lifted up only once and went back down quickly during the short time that I had to observe it. Never chased anything. Then, I had to leave for Columbia to hold my 12:30pm literature class.

Technical information

Model

COOLPIX P900

ISO

200

Focal length

1428 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.5

Shutter speed

1/500 sec

Dimensions

2272 pixels x 1704 pixels

Original file size

894.47 KB