After really blowing up the photo and getting a lot of pixels, I think I can
see paleness surrounding the bill.
The proportions are wrong for a jaeger IMO. That written, a single photo can
be mis-leading, but I have considerable experience at sea, and it sure looks
like a Great-winged or Grey-faced to me.
Maybe the earlier record from shore and this are examples of birds looking for
nesting opportunities, since it is now the latter half of the Austral spring.
Really an interesting bird. I was very surprised by the previous record from
shore.
Wasn’t a Grey-faced or Great-winged (before they were split) reported from a
birding boat off Coos Bay years ago? One that came to slick for a short period
of time?
https://paul.angrybluecat.com/AustralianBirds/Petrels-and-Shearwaters/Greatwinged-Petrel/i-5HJ7g6L
Jeff Gilligan
On Nov 19, 2020, at 3:27 PM, Harry Fuller <atowhee@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
photo taken off jetty near Eureka, CA, this week
--
Harry Fuller
author of: San Francisco's Natural History: Sand Dunes to Streetcars:
https://ecowise.wordpress.com/2017/04/20/sfnh/ ;
<https://ecowise.wordpress.com/2017/04/20/sfnh/>
author of Great Gray Owls of CA-OR-WA:
https://ecowise.wordpress.com/2015/05/08/the-great-gray-owl-book/ ;
<https://ecowise.wordpress.com/2015/05/08/the-great-gray-owl-book/>
author of Freeway Birding: freewaybirding.com <http://freewaybirding.com/>
birding website: http://www.towhee.net ;<http://www.towhee.net/>
my birding blog: atowhee.wordpress.com <http://atowhee.wordpress.com/>
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