12 Sep 2013
Provo Airport Dike
Provo, Utah
John Crawley sent in these photos of a Parasitic
Jaeger that was seen by a group of birder doing a "Big Sit." Eric
Huish recounted the event (email excerpt below) and posted pictures on a
website (links below).
(Excerpt from an e-mail from Eric Huish 12 Sep 2013)
:
"The Utah County Birders are doing a Big Sit out at the Provo Airport Dike
today. At about 10:00 a.m. we saw a dark bird chasing a gull out over the
lake. I believe Keeli Marvel first spotted it. We all had our bins on it
when it banked, wings and tail spread, and we yelled out "Jaeger!" The
bird then flew way out into the middle of the lake and landed on the
water. For the next two hours we kept an eye on the distant dot. It flew a
couple of time but wouldn't come closer. Then at about 11:45 a.m. the
jaeger flew right toward us, flew right over us, then caught a thermal and
started soaring in circles just east of us. It floated higher and higher
until it was just a dot in the sky, then it disappeared. We could not have
been luckier!
The bird was an adult light morph Parasitic Jaeger..."
Eric Huish
Photos by John Crawley
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