I wanted to add a personal experience for it has one thing similar to the
reporting person that is he saw it for a split second, I think?. I was at
Bassett Park standing with a small group when out of the corner of my eye I saw
a bird. Long tailed wing bent at the wrist all dark looking. I immediately
yelled frigate bird and a chase down the hwy to discover it was a long-tailed
jaeger. Just a suggestion for thought?
Bob Flores
Ridgefield, WA
On Nov 1, 2019, at 06:27, Alan Contreras
<acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Sounds weird but there is a record of Frigatebird on the upper Columbia.
Alan Contreras
Eugene, Oregon
acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx>
www.alanlcontreras.com<http://www.alanlcontreras.com>
On Oct 31, 2019, at 9:36 PM, Paul Sullivan
<paultsullivan@xxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:paultsullivan@xxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
This message was passed along to me from a traveling birder:
“…
I saw an unusual bird yesterday morning I'm guessing around mid morning
somewhere between Biggs Junction and Arlington.
I am a truck driver and as I was driving east on I-84, I saw a bird flying
east a little higher up along the south side of the Columbia River/freeway. I
got a really good look as I drove by. It was a pelagic bird that was uniformly
dark brown all over, had a five foot wingspan, a fairly long tail, a heavy
stout bill that came down to a point. The wings at the elbow came back at a
fairly Sharp angle from the rest of the wing and had pointed wing tips. The
body looked like a long torpedo shape….”
Asked the reporter if I can pass on more info, but I thought I’d get this much
out there in case any OBOL birder was in the area. Keep an eye out along that
reach of the Columbia or the refuges near Pendleton and Hermiston.
Paul Sullivan
