Hi Everyone,
Earlier this week, I was in contact with Tom Crabtree from Bend about the
Gyrfalcon that I originally found on February 25 SW of Halsey. He was planning
a trip to the Willamette Valley and had some time in his schedule to chase the
bird. I provided him locations of where the bird had been seen over the last
two weeks. Today, he started his search in the area immediately west of Halsey
along American Dr where Deanna Emig had located the bird earlier this past
week, this was the northern most location that the bird had been seen by
anyone. He did not find the bird so went south to the area where Rich Adney
photographed the bird last week along Brandon Rd located about a mile east of
Hwy 99 southeast of Halsey between Lake Creek Dr and Twin Buttes W Dr and
immediately found the bird on a fenceline near the road. It was a bit more
skittish than when Rich photographed it and took flight as Tom approached it
in his car. It flew SW across the field and landed on another fenceline along
Twin Buttes W Dr. He followed it to that location and was able to get some
diagnostic photographs and watch it for about 20 minutes when it decided to
take flight again headed south from the road. It landed on a wooden fence post
on a north/south fence line about half way between Brandon Rd and Hwy 99. Tom
watched it for another short bit of time and in true mystery bird form, when he
took his eye off the scope for just a few seconds to get his camera ready for
more photos, he looked back in the scope and the bird was gone. He was unable
to determine which way it flew off that fence line. Bottom line here is that
the gyrfalcon is still in the vicinity where it has been the last couple of
weeks so those of you who have not yet seen it still have some time to chase
this bird down. No guarantees that you will find it as it does have a pretty
big territory that it covers but don't let that stop you from trying, it's an
awesome bird to see through your scope or binocs! :) Good luck!
Jeff FleischerAlbany
