[wisb] Re: WSO Jaegerfest - Wisconsin Point, Douglas County (long)
- From: steven lubahn <stevenlubahn@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: trschultz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2010 06:35:36 -0500
What about the Mountain Bluebird?
Steven Lubahn
Cudahy
On Sep 28, 2010, at 10:06 AM, Tom Schultz wrote:
> 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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