birding-aus

Re: dark morph Long-tailed Jaeger

To: Jeff Davies <>,
Subject: Re: dark morph Long-tailed Jaeger
From: Mick Roderick <>
Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2009 16:27:27 -0800 (PST)
Hi all,

Well, this bird has been causing a stir amongst a few people who were on that 
trip. At the time the bird was called as a Long-tailed and was never questioned 
as being possibly an Arctic. The jizz was all Long-tailed (slight bird, 
tern-like flight etc) and behaviour also (kept generally high and never showed 
interest in any other birds). I'm still tentatively holding on to Long-tailed 
as the ID. With these birds I think jizz / behaviour is very important and this 
emphasises the malady of identifying from fotos. Not that I'm suggesting that 
it's definitely not an Arctic...I would just like to know more about the 
reasons why if people still  believe it is. This bird is worthy of discussion.

As far as the 'morph' is concerned I'm not even sure if there is an accepted 
'dark morph' for Long-taileds. I have been informed that this species has a 
'dark type' as opposed to 'dark morph'...whatever that is, maybe someone can 
shed some light on that? One would think that the 'dark type' is much more 
likely in a young Long-tailed than an adult bird.

If you go to Tobias' photostream you will notice that the second Jaeger has 
been called an Arctic by a northern hemispherean birder/photographer. And when 
you flick between the 2 shots you really notice the difference in the bulk of 
the birds and in particular, the bill. I also have a foto of what I'm assuming 
is the same bird, see:

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w248/Brewerbackpacker/Wollongong%20Jaegers/UnidentifiedJaeger.jpg

This foto gives you a better persepctive of the bill, which looks more like a 
Long-tailed to me. But keep in mind that the head is slightly turned towards 
the camera so this could alter the size appearance slightly. Check out the 
other Jaeger while you're there...yes, this is hard work!

Notwithstanding, from what I've read so far, this is a summary of the features 
people are basing their ID's on:

Long-tailed

- slight build / proportions
- short, relatively thick bill
- nicely barred undertail (but see below for Arctic)
- half the bill being black (as opposed to less than half on Arctic)
- barring in the underwing suggesting a young bird (2nd year?)
- tail feathers ok for a 2nd year bird
- the tarsus on a 2nd year bird should be partly dark on an Arctic but appear 
to be pale, suggesting Long-tailed

Arctic

- deep breast
- broad base to wings
- undertail barring not uniform enough to be Long-tailed (should be more 
strongly barred, even spaced and sized) - a point of contention
- presence of gingery tones in the feathers and some other general plumage 
characteristics

For those who dare, this link is worth looking at:

http://www.martinreid.com/Main%20website/jaeger4.html

Bottom line...maybe some birds are just too tough to call from fotos?

Mick


________________________________
From: Jeff Davies <>
To: 
Sent: Friday, 6 March, 2009 12:35:08 AM
Subject: [Birding-Aus] Re: dark morph Long-tailed Jaeger

G'day Tobias,



I'm with you on this bird, my money is on dark morph  first year Long-tailed
Jaeger, to my eye the bill looks too short for an Arctic and the rest looks
structurally OK.  Sorry to disagree Mike and Phil.

I lost the original post so I have pasted the link to your photo and
previous thread below from archives.



Cheers Jeff



http://www.flickr.com/photos/callocephalon/3329565621/





This was my opinion also after seeing the photos.



Phil.



Subject: Re: dark morph Long-tailed Jaeger

From: "Mike Carter" <pterodroma AT bigpond.com>

Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2009 18:55:14 +1100

In my opinion it is an Arctic Jaeger. Told by deep breast and broad base to 

the wings.



Mike Carter

30 Canadian Bay Road

Mount Eliza  VIC 3930

Tel  (03) 9787 7136



Hi all,
Just wondering what the status of dark morph Long-tailed Jaegers is in 
Australian waters. On the recent (February 28) Wollongong pelagic, I took
some 
photos of a dark morph jaeger that appears to be a Long-tailed (I thought so

too at the time in the field). They are here: 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/callocephalon/3329565621/
Interestingly, Pomarine and Long-tailed Jaegers were the most common
jaegers, 
only a couple of Arctic were briefly spotted.
Other highlights form the trip included nice views of Streaked Shearwaters.

Cheers
Tobias











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