ML623541855

Observation details

I looked up from scope when saw gulls and terns rise up, then watched jaeger proceed to land on the beach! Took a bunch of poor photos of it resting on the beach, while I watched with Mike A. I alerted Tony Dvorak to the bird and he has some great photos that will help toward ID. My feeling in the field was Parasitic but I'm not experienced with jaegers sitting on beaches. More brown than gray and seemed parasitic giss to me but I may be wrong (checking into Long-tailed and Parasitic ID now that have look at photos). Open to opinions. After what seemed like 10 minutes resting on the beach, the jaeger rose up and flew nearby in the waves along with some gulls, then a second similar-sized and looking jaeger appeared and the two flew off along beach shoreline toward the south beyond view. /// changed ID from Parasitic to Long-tailed based on additional (much better) photos taken of this bird by Tony Dvorak (not posted here) and ID thoughts from Jim Pawlicki. Tony's photos revealed a stubbier bill, smaller rounder head and breast being darker than the flanks. Barring on underwing and undertail very whitish which point to Long-tailed. Buffy/browner tones within variable range for young LT and also may be influenced by setting sun. As for the second jaeger that joined this bird in flight, it was the same size, flight pattern, and giss (even when seen side by side)- therefore, I don't consider a big stretch to call the second jaeger a LT as well. I don't recall ever seeing a jaeger on a beach like this before, aside from a brief touchdown here years ago, but not long enough to be photographed, so this was challenging conditions in the field to ID even as the bird was sitting. Similarly, when the bird took off in flight and the second jaeger joined it, it was probably the closest I've seen jaegers fly to shore which was different than viewing at a distance. In hindsight, I did think the birds were flapping a lot and lanky-looking wings, but didn't have enough experience to ID just based on short time I saw them flying.