I thought that with the incoming front, shorebirds might be moving today.  I
did not have time to head over to Conneaut so I decided to watch the lake in
hopes of seeing a few migrating shorebirds.  I saw none.  However, I did
have a LONG-TAILED JAEGER and SABINE'S GULL.  I thought that was a fair
trade off.  In addition I also had one distant jaeger that went unidentified
and two black terns.

The long-tailed jaeger went by about 8:40 and was heading west.  It was a
juvenile bird.I could tell as it was approaching that it was a jaeger.  As
it got closer I initially had trouble seeing the white-flash on the upper
wing and I couldn't see the underwing as it was flying very low.  It quickly
flew up when it came up on a ring-billed gull and the underwing flash was
very evident.  The bird was a dark grayish-brown.  It immediately gave me a
different tonal impression from the parasitics and pomarines I have seen.
At this point I felt it was a long-tail.  Compared to the ring-billed it was
quite a bit smaller and trimmer.  The wings were fairly narrow and had only
a small flash of white on the upper surface.  The undersides of the wing
were dark with a distinct white flash at the primary bases.  The belly was
whitish and the flanks were distinctly barred dark and white.  the tail was
dark with little contrast in the rump from the tail and back.  The head was
light grayish.  I couldn't tell if it had streaking or not.  The bill seemed
small, but I really didn't see it that well as I was looking at other
characters on the bird.  In all the bird was observed for only a minute or
so.

The Sabine's gull was a juvenile bird.  The distinct wing pattern was easily
observed.  It passed by to the west about 8:20.

The other jaeger was an all dark bird that was quite a way out.  It was too
far to see any field marks to ID it.

Here is a list of birds that flew by between 6:30 and 10:00.  Is it too
early for waterbird surveys?  I guess not.

Mallard   3
Blue-winged teal   3
Double-crested cormorant   11
Bald eagle   1 immature
LONG-TAILED JAEGER    1 immature
JAEGER SPP.
Bonaparte's gull   19
Ring-billed gull   679
Herring gull   31
SABINE'S GULL   1 immature
BLACK TERN   2

John Pogacnik
4765 Lockwood Road
Perry, OH 44081
(440) 259-2751

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]