Pomarine & Parasitic Jaeger - Witless Bay

Sunday April 26 i decided to head to Renews in search of the possibility of european birds showing up like they did around this date last year. Despite horrible weather i was able to capture some very memorable images. When i arrived at renews at  11am i could not see across the bay because of fog but i did notice 2 Greater Yellowlegs and one Arctic Tern that Alvan Buckley had reported earlier. The tern was surprisingly tame. I assume it must be exhausted from its long migration. This little tern my very well have flown all the way from Antarctica!!

Arctic Tern 

Arctic Tern 

On the way to Ferryland from Renews i seen a Merlin in a tree for a few minutes. This is one of my first photos of this species.

Alvan Buckley alerted me to a Pomarine Jaeger in Portugal Cove South which quickly switched my search from european birds to seabirds! Unfortunately i turned up nothing in Ferryland, Admirals Cove and Cape Broyal. Shortly after Avlan sees not only a Jaeger in Ferryland but also TWO in Cape Broyal.... Long story short thanks to Alvan for finding a total of 9! Jaegers along the shore. I got to see 6 up close in Witless Bay all of which were Pomarine Jaegers.... except 

Pomarine Jaeger 

Pomarine Jaeger 

Just minutes after Alvan left Witless Bay a much darker Jaeger flew in around the wharf. Only later that evening when i sent Alvan one of the images did i find out this darker bird was a Parasitic Jaeger!!

Parasitic Jaeger 

Jaegers are birds that spend almost all their time at sea. These birds are notorious for being similar to pirates. Its common to see them in the ocean chasing gulls and robbing their catch instead of fishing themselves. They usually only come to land when they nest in the Arctic. However during days like to day where its foggy and persistent eastern wind they can get disorientated and probably exhausted.  Thus they end up along more sheltered areas. This is certainly not a common occurrence. Most people will go though life not even knowing that a Jaeger is let alone see one up close.

Considering it was extremely foggy and almost always raining, i am certainly glad i decided to head down the southern shore. More to come later this week.

One more shot.

Pomarine Jaeger