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Subject:

Long-tailed Jaeger, Sooty Tern + in DC

From:

Paul Pisano

Reply-To:

Paul Pisano

Date:

Sat, 2 Sep 2006 18:57:48 -0400

Fortunately DC was able to join in the spoils of this relatively mild but
very productive storm.  I started this morning at Rock Creek Park to lead a
field trip for ANS.  In spite of the rain, we had a nice variety of birds.
Lighting conditions were poor, so I was able to ID about only half of the
birds we saw.  Highlights (seen on the trip or before or after) were 1
BLUE-WINGED, 2 CHESTNUT-SIDED, 1 WORM-EATING, 2 BLACK-THROATED BLUE, 3
BLACK-AND-WHITE, 1 MAGNOLIA WARBLERS, 4 COMMON YELLOWTHROATS and about 15
AMERICAN REDSTARTS.  At one point, we had a furiously feeding flock of
warblers at the Maintenance Yard, all buzzing around a swarm of bugs that we
could not see.  Most were redstarts, but almost all of the others were seen
here too.  Other migrants at RCP included 1 SCARLET TANAGER, 4+ BALTIMORE
ORIOLES, 2 INDIGO BUNTINGS, 4+ RED-EYED VIREOS, and 1 VEERY.  Plus many of
the expected or resident species.

From RCP, I decided to try Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens, thinking that
some interesting shorebirds may have dropped in there.  Suffice it to say
that this was a waste of time.  Only shorebirds were 2 KILLDEERS and I had
to work for those.  Otherwise, the only other new bird of note was a
NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH.  A treetop with 4 BALTIMORE ORIOLES in it wasn't bad
though either.

So from Kenilworth I drove through Anacostia River Park, and aside from lots
of RING-BILLED and LAUGHING GULLS, 1 or 2 FORSTER'S TERNS, and 2 more
KILLDEER, it too was slow.  At this point it was nearing 1:15pm, and I
finally got to Hains Point.  I quickly realized that this was a big mistake,
I should have been here all day.  On puddles on the golf course on the
Channel side I saw:

19 STILT SANDPIPERS!
14 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS!
1 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER!
1 RUDDY TURNSTONE!
1 PECTORAL SANDPIPER
1 LEAST SANDPIPER
1 GREATER YELLOWLEGS
20+ LESSER YELLOWLEGS

I spent a fair amount of time studying the shorebirds for 2 reasons: 1)
because they were close and easy to study, and 2) because DC has become
no-man's-land for shorebirds and I didn't know if and when I'd have such a
great assortment.  Alas, the 2nd or 3rd call from Rob Hilton about Sooty
Terns being seen along the river pushed me to head over to the other side of
the park to scan the river.

I set up my scope at about 2pm, and at around 2:15 I saw an all dark bird
downriver that was heading in my direction, but decided to give up the fight
against the northwesterly winds and turned back.  My first thought was juv.
Sooty Tern, but since it was quite foggy at that point (visibility less than
a mile), I left it as unidentified.  Then about 10 minutes later I got on an
(the?) all dark bird, and this time it flew upriver, right past me and
closer to me than National Airport.  Conditions were ideal as I watched a
juvenile LONG-TAILED JAEGER fly up the river, about at eye level (giving
good views from above and below).  It was soon followed by 4 COMMON TERNS.

About 10 minutes later I was joined by Mike Parr and we continued to scan
the river.  About 10 minutes after he arrived, I picked up a tropical tern
flying upriver.  This bird was first found near the mouth of 4-mile Run and
stayed close to the Virginia side of the river as it leisurely flew
upstream.  We both got good looks at it and agreed that it was an adult
SOOTY TERN.

While a policeman stopped to talk to us, Mike picked up another SOOTY TERN
that flew up the Anacostia.  I only glimpsed the bird and didn't see it well
enough to ID.  I was torn between looking for the tern and ignoring the cop,
or carrying on our conversation.  I certainly didn't want to irritate him.
Fortunately he left shortly thereafter, and didn't seem to mind our birding
once he knew we weren't taking pictures.

I stuck around until about 3:45, but didn't find any other birds that
matched the jaeger and terns.  Here's a brief summary of my river watch:

1 LONG-TAILED JAEGER
1 or 2 SOOTY TERNS
20 FORSTER'S TERNS
15 COMMON TERNS
2 CASPIAN TERNS
2 BLACK TERNS
1 RUDDY TURNSTONE (probably the same bird seen on the golf course)
20 shorebird, sp (tight flock flying upriver that I didn't see well enough
to ID)

I'll probably check it again first thing tomorrow, but I'm sure I won't be
able to repeat that experience.

Good birding,
Paul Pisano
Arlington, VA