Parasitic Jaeger at Belle Isle, Wayne Co.

[Allen Chartier]

Birders,

This morning (Sunday, November 12), my schedule finally permitted me to try 
and relocate the lingering Parasitic Jaeger at Belle isle, first reported by 
Karl Overman and Tex Wells on the afternoon of Friday, November 10, and 
relocated by Daryl Aspery yesterday morning.

On my second pass around the island, I located the bird sitting on the water 
at about 8:00 a.m., less than 1/4 mile (maybe 300 yards) to the northwest of 
the western tip of Belle Isle. I watched it in the scope, but it never flew 
(not many gulls around this morning). Tom Pavlik arrived around 8:15, just 
as I was giving up that the bird would ever fly. We watched it as it 
continued to sit on the water, and it floated much farther to the west, 
ending up perhaps almost 1 mile away. Then, around 8:25 a.m., a Peregrine 
Falcon flew out over the river from the Detroit mainland, and the jaeger was 
on it instantly. The jaeger chased the falcon into Canada, but still well 
west of Belle Isle. The jaeger then began circling and getting higher and 
somewhat closer (probably 1/4 to 1/2 mile away), and Tom last saw it gliding 
off to the south toward the Windsor mainland. We did not see the bird after 
this, and the behavior of circling up high is something I've seen jaegers do 
at Port Huron when they depart. So, I suspect the bird is gone, but it may 
return.

The Parasitic Jaeger was about the same size as the Peregrine Falcon, and 
slightly but noticeably smaller than a Ring-billed Gull, the only two birds 
it went anywhere near. It was very dark on the head, breast, back, wings, 
and tail, and had a pale area in the middle of the belly which was visible 
when the bird was on the water at closest approach, and quite visible when 
it was in flight. Perhaps a second winter bird? The wings from below showed 
a large white flash at the base of the primaries, and neither Tom nor I saw 
any suggestion of a smaller pale crescent on the primary coverts (which 
would suggest Pomarine if present), but we could have missed it if it was 
present, given the distances. On the water, the bill was easily seen when 
the bird was closest, and was long and thin, not short and thick like it 
would be in Long-tailed, not larger, thicker, and bulbous-tipped like it 
would be in Pomarine Jaeger. As Karl Overman noted in a previous posting, 
this is only the second jaeger record for Belle Isle, the first also 
reported as Parasitic by Dave Washington.

Other interesting birds on Belle Isle this morning included three Surf 
Scoters far off the western tip of the island, two Horned Grebes off the 
north side of the island at the Water Slide, and a "raft" of ~150 Bufflehead 
near the fishing pier off the southeast side of the island. I also had at 
least three groups of 15-20 Hooded Mergansers at various locations around 
the island. There are still hundreds of ducks on Blue Heron Lagoon, 
including many Ring-necked and Canvasback, and a few Redhead and Lesser 
Scaup. Undoubtedly there were other species present too, but I didn't have 
the time to scope them all. I did not walk in the woods this morning, but 
Tom was planning to. Hopefully, he'll post a report of something interesting 
there....or perhaps the Parasitic Jaeger will have returned.

Allen Chartier
amazilia1 at comcast.net
1442 West River Park Drive
Inkster, MI  48141
Website: http://www.amazilia.net
Michigan HummerNet: http://www.amazilia.net/MIHummerNet
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Every day, the hummingbird eats its own weight in food.
You may wonder how it weighs the food. It doesn't.
It just eats another hummingbird.
---Steven Wright