Birders Flock to See Rare Jaegers at Wisconsin’s Jaeger Fest

by Allison Torres, age 16

The Parasitic Jaeger is a bird that spends most of its time at sea, except for breeding season in the arctic tundra. What makes them special are their rare sightings, which have mostly occurred around the Great Lakes in the winter. A group of birders in Wisconsin have created a tradition of looking out for these birds in their annual “Jaeger Fest.”

The Parasitic Jaeger is a lean and powerful bird, with a slim bill and an elongated, pointed tail. For both sexes, their body length is usually between 15 to 21 inches. They weigh about 11 to 21 ounces and their wingspan can be 43 to 47 inches long. This type of jaeger is one of three jaeger species. The others are the Pomarine Jaeger and the Long-tailed Jaeger, the largest and smallest of the three, respectively.

Parasitic Jaegers have dark brown feathers covering their back, wings, and head, while white feathers envelop their stomach and neck. They have distinctive white lines, or shafts, on some of their outer wing feathers, helping birders distinguish between the Parasitic Jaeger and other Jaeger species.

All three of these species are known to be skilled fliers, the Parasitic Jaeger being the most agile and acrobatic. They all chase other birds down for their food, rather than finding their sustenance, and the Parasitic Jaeger is the most aggressive and persevering during these chases. This type of behavior makes them “kleptoparasites,” which are animals that steal their food from other animals. This is also how they have their name. Since the jaegers live at sea, people usually only get to see these chases during migration season, when they fly to or from the arctic tundra for mating season.

In the late 1990s, a group of bird watchers from the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology organized a field trip to Wisconsin Point, a three-mile beach in Superior, Wisconsin, to watch birds migrate. Many species of birds migrate over or near Wisconsin Point. Parasitic Jaegers, which are hard to spot in most areas even around the Great Lakes, actually tend to rest along the beach in Wisconsin Point before continuing their journeys.

After a couple of years of organizing this bird-watching trip, Tom Schultz, a field trip coordinator for the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, said, “We’re seeing so many jaegers. We could have called this Jaeger Fest.”

The jaegers regularly put on a show for the birders by chasing gulls and other birds and stealing their food. Schultz described their thievery saying a Parasitic Jaeger will “get on the tail of one of those gulls and chase it relentlessly until that gull coughs up its last meal, which is usually a fish. Then the jaeger will dive down and typically catch that fish before it even hits the water.”

Schultz said the jaegers are the headliners of their annual trip, but the group of birders who gather on the beach sees plenty of other birds. Some other bird species that they see are sparrows, warblers, and gulls.

For those who would like to see these aerial acrobats themselves, visit Wisconsin Point in Superior for the annual Jaeger Fest which is from September 19th to the 21st, to see Parasitic Jaegers and other bird species alike!

[Sources: Wisconsin Society for Ornithology; Wisconsin Public Radio; All About Birds]