Date: 7/2/25 10:34 pm From: R L ROWLAND RONALD ROWLAND via groups.io <rlrowland...> Subject: [IBLE] Black's Ck. Bird Preserve dark gull/jaeger(?) this evening
Hokay, out there in "ible-land", RL here. Been a while. Got a poser for those who might be interested.
Was out at Black's Ck. Bird Preserve the last 1-1/2hrs. of daylight this evening, 02 July. Have not yet published my list for there. This first.
Making a last scan with my scope (Swarovski 80mm HD, circa 1999) before departing I found a smallish-medium sized appearing, very dark gull-ish-looking bird on the water swimming toward a mess of CAGU's (mostly, some juvie RBGU's) on the far shore (North). Given the light conditions, right at sunset, cloudy I was only able to narrow the bird down one of three possibilities: 1) a juvie Heermann's, 2) juvie dark-morph Parasitic Jaeger, or 3) juvie dark-morph Pomarine Jaeger. I dismissed juvie dark-morph Long-tailed Jaeger as the bird I was looking at had too much bill. Also, no way was this bird any kind of a Coot.
Rough description: bird smaller the nearby CAGU's it was moving toward, seemed comparable in size to a RBGU but much slimmer/trimmer appearing, not as bulky. again, bird body all dark, very dark brown to black, no other colors or even patterns discernible given the light conditions. not able to tell any bill coloration other than all dark and more gull-like than jaeger-esque. primaries longer than tail.
At this point bird turned, butt toward me, and went ashore, preened momentarily then appeared to tuck in for the night. Again, I was not able to see any other coloration stand-out during the brief preening process. It did not join in with the other gulls, but stayed apart.
I am leaning toward wanting to call Heermann's as opposed to the two jaegers, mainly based on bill appearance (size and shape), but, also the overall , shall I say, "daintiness" of this bird's appearance.
I will try to get back out there early, but, awakenings before sunrise are very rough for me. I am a devout "Swing Shifter", sunrise is the middle of my night.
If you need to contact me for more info that I may not have noted here, either of my phones (H) or (C), if you've the numbers, or, my email address is noted on my ebird Profile description page.
Prove me right or prove me wrong, I would like to get this bird re-found and positively id'd. Right now I'm reluctant to call this bird unless a hard id can be determined. More eyes can only help. Hope the bird can be re-found.
Good Luck to you who may try for it and Continued Good Birding to all. RL
