A possible Parasitc Jaeger has been hanging out on the mudflats north of the Convention Center at South Padre Island for the past couple of days. Excellent photos from Friday showed it to be missing a foot so I thought it might be easy to find and maybe not surviving too long. I drove out Saturday morning and found the flats muddy but firm enough to drive on. I skirted the north edge and easily found the loafing jaeger.
Compare this bill to the huge ones on these Pomarine Jaegers from a long ago pelagic birding trip.
Looking at images online, these broadly barred under wing tertial coverts might also be a field mark for Parasitic Jaeger. On Pomarine they seem morre finely barred but I don't see this mentioned anywhere as a field mark.
There was also a fun little flock of ten Common Terns. We usually get Forster's Terns. A few Common Terns will winter amd are easy to ID by the carpal bar. Here's a couple of breeding plumaed adults with one still in winter plumage. The dark outer web of the outer rectrices has long been known as a field mark for Common Tern. Forster;s Tern has a larger more orange bill.
If it stands, this Parasitic Jaeger is Cameron County bird species #443 for me. No one else is close.
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