[obol] Re: Benton County Prairie Falcon

From: Joel Geier <joel.geier@xxxxxxxx>
To: MidValley Birds <birding@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2013 17:52:37 -0800
Doug & All,

Prairie Falcons in the mid-Willamette Valley have generally had a
consistent pattern of recurrence from year to year, so hopefully the
bird that you relocated today will fit that pattern and provide
sightings for other local birders.

Going back 12 years or so, I think Dan Fenske was the one who pointed
out to me that Prairie Falcons were more regular in the mid-Willamette
Valley than most birders notice. One or two used to be regular every
year on what some dubbed the "falcon tree" along Davis Dr. in Linn Co.,
east of Peoria (Jeff Fleischer will have more information). 

At our old place which was right along the Polk/Benton Co. line on the
east side of E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area, a Prairie Falcon showed up for
several consecutive years, making use of the BPA power line which runs
roughly north-south through that corridor. Sometimes I would see it as
far south as Ryals Rd. (on the east side of Adair Village), and
sometimes as far north as Suver Rd. (in Polk Co., about five miles north
of Ryals Rd.). It spent a lot of its time harassing a big Horned Lark
flock which included quite a few Streaked Horned Larks, in a field just
south of the Polk/Benton Co. line. We picked it up in that field at
least a couple of times for the Airlie CBC, and I seem to remember that
Noah Strycker once spotted it perched on an irrigation rig out in that
area.

I spotted a Prairie Falcon using one of the same BPA poles near Ryals
Rd. two winters ago, but I think it must have been a different bird as
there was an interval of four or five years since my previous sighting.

More recently than the "BPA corridor" bird, what I presume was a
different Prairie Falcon was regular more recently for several years
along De Armond Rd. and Robison Rd in the vicinity of the Polk/Benton
Co. line, sometimes ranging over to near the northwest corner of E.E.
Wilson Wildlife Area. The last time that I saw a Prairie Falcon in this
area was about two years ago.

There have always been a few reports per season from the Finley NWR
area, but I know that this has long been considered as a tough bird for
county listers. My hunch is that two or three Prairie Falcons spend time
in Benton County every winter, but since they spend most of their time
in larger fields far from the public roadways, they tend to go
unnoticed. Even when I had a good handle on the territories of the
above-mentioned falcons, I would only see them on perhaps one in ten
tries.

Good birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis





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[obol] Re: Benton County Prairie Falcon

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