[wisb] Re: WSO Jaegerfest - Wisconsin Point, Douglas County (long)
- From: "Tom Schultz" <trschultz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <stevenlubahn@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2010 21:39:17 -0500
Sorry to take a while to respond, but I was gone most of today.
You are correct that I didn't include the M. Bluebird report -- partly
because I didn't have it written down in my daily notes, partly because it
wasn't really recorded on Wisconsin Point during the field trip and it was
only seen by one person, and partly because I didn't have any specifics of
the observation -- other than that it was seen near where Moccasin Mike Road
intersects the highway.
I will let Daryl provide any details.
Tom Schultz
Green Lake Co.
--------------------------------------------------
From: "steven lubahn" <stevenlubahn@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 6:35 AM
To: <trschultz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Wisbirdn" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [wisb] Re: WSO Jaegerfest - Wisconsin Point, Douglas County (long)
> 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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