[TN-Bird] Pomarine Jaeger - Ensley Bottoms

Oct. 23, 2005
Ensley Bottoms
Shelby Co. TN
 
About 10 this morning, I was touring the pits when I started to notice  
strings of DC Cormorants and then White Pelicans start to appear in the cloudy  
skies to the north. I had been on the river earlier and there was nothing 
flying  
but I knew it would change mid-morning. I positioned myself on a high levee 
and  faced the cold north wind to watch the coming migrating flocks.
 
The skies opened up and birds started streaming by. You could see the back  
of the cloud front breaking up to the north west but the birds were seen 
against  an even backdrop of gray rolling clouds. Scanning the horizon you 
could 
pick up  strings and singles just about at any point. The birds were coming 
down 
the  river, crossing President's Island and as usual breaking back to the 
southwest  toward the river.
 
While counting one approaching group of pelicans, I noted a distant bird  
coming directly toward me. It was dark but too distant to come up with anything 
 
but a possible Herring Gull as an ID. It caught up with the White Pelicans as  
they started to kettle and drift over me. The bird was too dark for an 
immature  herring and then things got interesting as I thought I saw a flash of 
white on  the bird as it soared just outside the pelican formation. As they 
passed 
 directly overhead, this bird faded in and out of the group circling and  I 
had clear looks at both the upper and underwing pattern. 
 
It was a large hefty bird, almost pot bellied plus bull headed. The  wings 
were pointed and the depth of the wing was equal to the head and tail  
projection. Except for the white crescent at the base of the upper primaries 
and  a 
pair of crescents on the underwing at the primary and covert bases, the  bird 
appeared generally all very dark brown. The tail did not show any central  tail 
projections. The high wind kept the birds quickly drifting south  and the 
jaeger peeled of and continued south on its own.
 
This was my second Pomarine for TN, although I have had one other bird that  
I suspected was this species. My first was seen August/Sept, 1987  when there 
was a Pomarine in the company of a Long-tailed Jaeger at  Pace Point/Paris 
Landing. The Long-tailed was called a Parasitic at the  time but after we had 
close looks and took photos, I always questioned why it  was not a LT. I later 
showed the photos to Jon Dunn and Paul Lehman and they  both said the bird was 
without a doubt a LT. Of all the jaegers seen here  in the south, I think 
Long-tailed is by far the most likely to occur.
 
Scanning through large flocks of ANY species during a migration push  has 
paid off time and again. I'll post a complete list of today's movement  of 
migrants that passed through today. It was another impressive array of birds  
on a 
cold windy day.  
Good Birding  !!!

Jeff R. Wilson / TLBA
6298 Memphis-Arlington Road
Bartlett, TN  38135



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