Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2003 15:00:17 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Chris Starling Subject: Jaeger sp. in Cecil! Greetings, I joined the Cecil Bird Club yesterday morning for a field trip to Turkey Point for a warbler walk and a stop by the hawk watch. terrestrial birds were few however a few nice things turned up here and there. Most notable was a dozen or so Rose-breasted Grosbeaks including a stunning male still in alternate plumage! Other birds were Canada Warbler, Mourning Warbler, Redstart, Red-eyed, White-eyed, and Blue-headed (solitary) Vireos. Also female Blue Grosbeak that was seen feeding a young bird! The Hawk Watch was rather slow but seemed to be picking up as I left around 1PM. Birds flying by were: Broad-winged, Sharpie, Cooper's, Kestrel, Osprey, Bald Eagle. At the lighthouse Myself and Tom (Raub -i think?) set up for a mini-sea watch looking for hurricane displaced birds. We were unable to see much other then 12 Laughing Gulls, dozens of Caspian Terns, 9 Forster's Terns, and a few Cormorants (D-c). There were two rather dark gull-like birds at a distance that threw us for a second. They didn't seem to fit the "GISS" of a gull. certain behavioral patterns did not quite fit. For instance, the birds general flying technique was more deliberate and sustained then that of a gull also the bird flew steady across the water maintaining a height less then (approximately) 6 feet off the water. The second bird was similar in appearance and lit on the water while it was floating it was "bobbing" up and down consistently. I have never seen a Gull do that before. It's head and neck also seemed larger then a gulls. Both birds were dark all over. being VERY far away we were not able to ID either bird. After I left the Elk Neck State Park I arrived at my wife's Aunt's house to help prepare for a wedding that was to be had on the property later that afternoon. While I was cleaning debris off the beach I caught a great view of a Large powerful Gull-like bird flying fast to the south. The bird covered 1000 yards in less then a minute. It was moving South had obviously had nothing else on its mind. I am certain the bird was not a Gull or a Raptor. It was 500 yards or more from me and I was able to view it for 90 seconds with 9X binos. It appeared to me to be a juvenile Parasitic Jaeger. My only problem with that ID is that the bird seemed to be much larger then a Jaeger... however size was very difficult to judge since nothing else was around to compare it to. The bird was seen in the North East River from the shore of Cara Cove. Its wings beats were powerful and steady at a medium speed. The bird was mainly brown with some beige patterning on the underside. It's wings were long and wide especially at the base closer to the body. I wish I had had my scope with me at the time. Good Birding, Chris Starling North East, MD PS; as I wrote this I got up and went outside for a moment here at APG. the previously reported Cowbird/Starling Flock was outside. Suddenly a Merlin appeared from nowhere and sent the large (500+ birds) flock into a massive scramble. It was quite a spectacle. The Merlin tried unsuccessfully to catch a meal. the Merlin was a large juev. ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================