Jaeger at Deseret update - not seen on Saturday

[Mark Stackhouse <westwings at sisna dot com>]

We saw 121 species on our Deseret Ranch tour on Saturday, but the Parasitic Jaeger wasn't among
them. It's certainly possible that the bird is still there, as the lake is large and difficult
to view in its entirety. We didn't have time to do an exhaustive search, but the gulls didn't
seem stressed, which tells me that the jaeger, if present, wasn't up and flying around.

While we saw lots of good birds on Saturday, they were all "ranch regulars," such as Calliope
Hummingbird, Purple Martin, and Lark Bunting.

I'll be doing a Breeding Bird Survey on the ranch Wednesday morning, and will be checking the
reservoir for the jaeger (or anything else rare) after I'm done. If anyone wants to join me for
a look at the reservoir (again, no charge on this one, but we won't be touring elsewhere on the
ranch), let me know (via phone or e-mail). I could meet people at the entrance to the ranch at
about noon, and we can car-pool to the reservoir. High-clearance vehicles with good tires will
be necessary, as I intend to go off-road a bit (the terrain is generally smooth and grassy) to
check into all of the back-side bays and inlets.

Depending upon how many respond, I may need to limit the number of people for this outing. Let
me know if you want to go.

Good birding!

Mark

Mark Stackhouse
Westwings, Inc.
1432 Downington Ave.
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
tel./fax. (801) 487-9453
westwings@sisna.com