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Posted by Trey on 22:57:56 09/14/08
In Reply to: Re: Pelagics off Miami - and a surprise, 9/13 posted by John Boyd
I'm not kidding...
I was guessing it is a Non-breeding Adult which doesn't have as nearly as much white as the breeding. At least in the photos and guides I've seen. I have also found photos of Light morph Breeding Adult Pomarines with much less white on the belly than this bird. The few photos I have been able to find of Non-breeding adults shows far less white on the belly in the Pomarine than the Parasitic in Non-breeding Adults.
I don't really know how to gauge this, but from my perception the wings appear to be not so broad in my opinion. But I don't have as much experience as you do, so I could be seriously wrong there.
Also the bird doesn't appear to have a bicolored bill as seen in all of the illustrations of Pomarine in Sibley's.
I don't have any better source than my Sibley's.
Maybe the bird is Pomarine, maybe not... I made my best guess and posted it. I live and learn and I don't worry about making mistakes on birds that are difficult to ID if I may learn something in the process.
I just received this email:
Trey
Definitely a Pomarine Jaeger. It is an adult part of the way into basic (winter) plumage. The bulky body with a bull-necked look, deep belly, and broad based wings are typical of Pomarine, while Parasitic is slimmer. This bird also shows the very scaly look of basic adult Pomarine s, and the molt in this species is much earlier than that of Parasitics. So the fact that this bird is so scaly and appears to be molting inner primaries (at least something is going on there), all point to Pomarine.
Cheers
Al
Alvaro Jaramillo
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