Parasitic Jaeger 2 days ago at Adobe Creek Reservoir (Kiowa County)

[Gary Koehn]

2 days ago I had the pleasure of seeing a life bird, a Parasitic Jaeger, with Dwayne Nelson and Janael Thompson at Adobe Creek Reservoir (Blue Lake) in Kiowa County.  The bird put on a spectacular show of "kleptoparasitism" going after several Ring-billed Gulls in flight.  On one occasion I observed the Jaeger  pursue the gull in a descending corkscrew fashion toward the lake.  I also learned from Dwayne that the Jaeger actually can pick out gulls with full crops and somehow force the gull to regurgitate its food.  I looked online this morning for examples of this and found these rather dramatic photos of the process.  Worth a look:

http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/parasitic_jaeger

Thanks to Janael and Dwayne for giving me the opportunity to see this spectacular show.

Gary Koehn
Colorado Springs