[wisb] WSO Jaegerfest - Wisconsin Point, Douglas County (long)
- From: "Tom Schultz" <trschultz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Wisbirdn" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 10:06:38 -0500
I had wanted to get this out last evening, but couldn't quite get it
completed...
Field Trip Report - WSO Jaegerfest on Wisconsin Point at Superior
Following a pretty good week of jaeger activity, and an afternoon and night
of rain on Thursday, there was much anticipation as Jaegerfest started just
after 6:30 AM on Friday morning. The sky was overcast, the temperature
was 48 degrees, and there was a brisk southwest wind blowing -- but the
beach was protected by the bordering treeline along the peninsula. There
were still a few sprinkles yet at various points in the morning, but the
weather wasn't too bad.
Bald Eagles flew about, keeping the gulls at attention, and a few ducks were
spotted. We started seeing small groups of American Pipits that
occasionally came across the lake and landed on the beach, providing good
looks at close range. One group was joined by a fall-plumaged Lapland
Longspur, and Semipalmated Plovers and Sanderlings also showed up from time
to time, and a few American Golden-Plovers came flying past.
Around 7:45 a distant tern was spotted as it flew in from far out in the
lake, and it looked "interesting", as it appeared to have a solid black cap.
It might well have been an Arctic (as Common Terns typically have started
molting their forehead feathers by now), but unfortunately it never came
close enough for a definite ID, and then it headed back out into Lake
Superior. A short time later, a distant Sabine's Gull was spotted, but it
never came close enough for most to see, and then another found about 8:15,
but this one also headed toward Duluth and disappeared. An adult Lesser
Black-backed Gull was also spotted floating on Lake Superior. About 12:15
an adult Parasitic Jaeger was finally observed coming in off the lake, but
it never came close for good views. A short time later, a Franklin's Gull
was observed on Allouez Bay, swimming in the vicinity of some Ring-billed
Gulls, and a few ducks and geese were also observed.
By the afternoon, the wind was shifting around to the northwest and starting
to hammer us on the beach, so some of the group headed down the road on the
Point to look for sparrows and other passerines. A few Harris's Sparrows
were found, along with White-throated, Dark-eyed Juncos, and other sparrows.
We had hoped to scope the lake from the breakwater area, but the wind was
picking up to around 30-40 mph and sending spray across the entire area, so
many of us kept searching the peninsula for migrants.
Returning to the beach around 3:45, several groups of Snow Geese were
spotted coming in off the lake -- totaling about 45 birds, with some of the
birds mixed with Canadas.
Saturday morning brought mostly clears skies, with just a few clouds to
highlight the sunrise, a temperature of 38 degrees, and light to moderate NW
winds. Birders started arriving about 6:30 AM, and by mid-morning there
were about 85 eager sets of eyes out on the beach! Unfortunately, however,
the morning was slower than expected, and on the lake we managed to find
only Common Loon, Horned Grebes and a few ducks including Northern Pintail
and Green-winged Teal. A few Bonaparte's Gulls were sighted, but we didn't
spot a jaeger until about 8:15. It was pretty distant as it came in off the
lake, and it headed toward Duluth. Another distant jaeger followed a
similar path about 15 minutes later.
Shortly after that a Sabine's Gull was spotted flying at relatively close
range, but unfortunately it got mixed up with a large flock of gulls and
many were not able to find it before it was lost from view. A few minutes
later a sub-adult Franklin's Gull was sighted on the water, providing decent
scope views, and then a second one -- a juvenile -- was found flying right
in front of our group.
Later in the morning, a couple of tiny Cackling Geese were identified as
they flew with 2 larger Canada Geese, and then about 12:30 another distant
Parasitic Jaeger was sighted as it headed toward Duluth. It seemed as
though the jaegers were in "migration mode" today, as they appeared to gain
altitude as they approached Duluth -- probably looking for thermals.
About 2:15 a number of us decided to head out to the tip of the Point to try
scoping from near the breakwater. A few minutes I received a phone call
from Peder Svingen who had followed us out there, but had gone to a
different location at the harbor entrance. He was watching a flock of 10
Sabine's Gulls that were heading into Minnesota toward Park Point.
Unfortunately, we were not able to spot them from our vantage point. Over
the next couple of hours we found a few Forster's Terns and a Common, as
well as an Osprey, and then we had distant views of a White-winged Scoter as
it flew with a few other ducks. Finally, about 4:00 we spotted another
Parasitic Jaeger coming in, and then a second bird at 4:25. This latter
bird appeared to be a light morph adult, and it headed down the beach a
couple of miles -- right to where we had formerly been standing!
On Sunday morning there was frost on the ground, with the temperature
hovering close to 30 degrees. A dense fog was rising off the lake with the
light south breeze, but the sky was clear as we viewed a nice sunrise.
Fewer birders were on the beach today, but by 8:00 we probably had around
50. The fog gradually dissipated, providing better view conditions, but
unfortunately there were not many birds to be seen -- other than the
thousands of gulls loafing on the beach or offshore. There was a moment of
great excitement as a Sabine's Gull was spotted flying at relatively close
range, but many again missed it as it mixed in with other flying gulls and
soon disappeared.
Many people started heading home by 8:30 or 9:00 AM -- unfortunately
missing the best jaeger-viewing opportunities of the weekend, which started
a little before 9:30 as a Parasitic made close fly-bys and landed just
offshore!
In summary, our 3-day Wisconsin Point outing produced about 80 species, with
just a small representation of warblers (about 8 species) that were mostly
Yellow-rumpeds and Palms. The Harris's Sparrows put on a fairly good
showing, with at least 8-9 individuals present, and as alluded to earlier,
the pipit flight was impressive -- with at least 120 birds sighted on
Friday. We never would have guessed that spotting at least 14 Sabine's
Gulls and about 8-10 jaegers could be disappointing, but unfortunately most
of these birds were either very distant or late in the day -- so many
birders missed them. Thanks to everyone who attended and participated in
this great event!
Tom Schultz
WSO Field Trips co-chair
Green Lake Co.
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