Jaeger time

It's finally that glorious time of the year where we get the zodiac out and go bother Jaegers on Lake Ontario. The first run of the year was done on less than idea conditions (Aug 30, with my Dad), yet we still managed to bag a nice adult (light) Parasitic Jaeger...

Jennifer and I had some better luck the next day on some gentle east winds:

2 Long-tailed Jaegers (1 adult, 1 juv)
1 Parasitic Jaeger (light adult)
~36 Red-necked Phalaropes (7,20,3,2,3,1 - all juveniles)
3 Bonaparte's Gulls (1 adult, 2 juv)
1 probable Question Mark (butterfly)

and some other expected birds. (Common Terns, Loons etc)


As you may remember, I broke my 100-400mm lens last year when Jenn and I went to Moosonee, so I was somewhat limited for photo chances... Yet the adult Long-tailed Jaeger was so darn cooperative, I still managed some shots: (with this one being my favourite by far):

Adult Long-tailed Jaeger -Aug 31, 2011 

The coolest part by far being the fact that I took the above photo with my 70mm lens (and it's full frame)... Kinda fun having a stunning bird like this fly a few feet above your head. (70mm = about 1.4x Magnification - or barely more than what our eyes see). 

I only took 1 quick video, but here's an example of the bird flying around Jenn and I:

Hopefully many many many more Zodiac adventures to come this fall. I'm dying to get out more into October and November -- which is pretty tough with the poor weather - but here's hoping.

One last look at my beautiful darling girlfriend Jenn enjoying some "up-close" Phalaropes: