Birding Trip With Bizarre Ending

[mvjo...@gmail.com]

I led a San Luis valley birding trip on Friday, Sept 7, and 11 of us had a great day afield. We stayed on the west side of the Valley as this seems to be where most of the birds are congregating during this outstanding fall migration. We tallied 94 species and the best birds were 7 species of warblers including Townsend's and Northern Waterthrush, Osprey, Lincoln's Sparrow, Stilt Sandpiper, and Burrowing Owl.

As we finished up Cat Creek and were driving back to our vehicles, we found an apparent road killed bird on the side of the road and stopped to examine it. After considerable head scratching and wonderment, we determined it to be a seabird! And more specifically a Jaeger of some variety.

As long as I have been keeping records in the San Luis Valley, I have no records for Jaegers here. However, I have long suspected they pass through our area and that sooner or later one might be found. So I would invite you to look at the images (roadkilled) of the bird, and let me know what species you think it is. It had a noticeable broken wing on one side and was found on the side of the road. We estimated its length at 15-16 inches. It was still rather ripe and was killed in the last few days by our estimate.  

I have posted a number of pictures of the bird on my website for your perusal. Look in the folder "Jaeger Plus Warblers" and let me know what you think. We were all very excited by this strange and bewildering ending to our adventure.

 https://johnrawinski.zenfolio.com/

John Rawinski

Monte Vista, CO

[Brandon]

My guess, that is a juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger.  They can be found eating grasshoppers in open fields, no where near water.  

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Brandon Percival
Pueblo West, CO

[Sebastian]

 . . . hope somebody salvaged the specimen  . . .

sebasti...@hotmail.com
Sebastian T. Patti
(Lincoln Park)
Chicago, ILLINOIS 60614-3354 
CELL: 773/304-7488
 

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From: cob...@googlegroups.com <cob...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of mvjo...@gmail.com <mvjo...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 9, 2018 4:56 PM
To: Colorado Birds
Subject: [cobirds] Birding Trip With Bizarre Ending

 

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[Nicholas Komar]

Agree with juv Long-tailed Jaeger. Looks like white on the upper wing is limited to the two outer primary shafts. 

Nick Komar

Fort Collins 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CA%2BXeEuXhPLiU5i0nF0DTt-u6MH_%3DQfiT7i%2BbgayuV968bK%3D5ng%40mail.gmail.com.

[Eric Hynes]

Quite a find! I will cast another vote for juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger. 

A few other features not previously mentioned:

1. Juvenal plumage thanks to all those pale tips to the upperwing coverts; plus the barring on the undertail coverts

2. Barring on the upper and undertail coverts is thick, bold and even

3. Overall hue is cool

4. Stubby bill

5. Proportionally long tail (compared to body length)

6. Central retrices project noticeably (compared to the rest of tail feathers) and are not sharply pointed

My two cents,

Eric

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Eric Hynes

Telluride, CO

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Field Guides Birding Tours

www.fieldguides.com

http://fieldguides.com/guides/eric-hynes

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