*
This looks like the previously posted dark Gyr candidate. I believe Dave Irons
dubbed that one a female Peregrine. This one is certainly an immature (grey
cere, not yellow)and to judge by the face a Peregrine. Darker than any I've
ever seen. Very cool bird, wish I had been there. lpn
On Jan 14, 2018, at 4:12 PM, Robert O'Brien wrote:
I spent the day at the coast Jan 2, finding some interesting things and
taking a lot of photos. While searching for WW Crossbills I stopped by
Parking Lot C (SJCR). Not much was going on there birdwise
but the waves/winds/tides on the Jetty were truly spectacular.
While watching the weather I caught a glimpse of an
apparently large falcon fly low in from the east and rather clumsily
land on the distant Salicornia flats. It didn't seem to have captured
anything, looking more like it had a previous kill there. Anyhow
it was out of sight even in the low vegetation.
I've been birding a long time so I easily make snap IDs (some of
which I soon or later regret). Gyrfalcon was my reaction.
Although the bird was not visible now, several minutes
later it took off, flying farther to the west, eventually landing on a very
distant
stump. I took some flight photos (here highly magnified), decided it
was a peregrine and went back to my crossbill search.
Last night I looked at the photos; so, this is a quiz of sorts.
What do you think? If so inclined email me privately your thoughts.
If otherwise inclined reply to this post with your analysis.
I'll post the summarized responses, if any, and describe what
had stumped me.
Bob OBrien
PS If you can tolerate this sort of arm-chair birding you might
also review Mike Patterson's recent blog post, quite apropos to
my falcon encounter.
http://www.surfbirds.com/community-blogs/northcoastdiaries/
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