New birder Barbara Clise reported to me and Bob McGuire that she spotted a Gyrfalcon on Friday (Feb 22) while she was out birding south of Union Springs. She was able to watch the bird for some time and took multiple photos of the bird as well as video. She was not sure at the time what the bird was, but the Merlin app ID'd her bird as a Gyrfalcon from the photo. Yesterday she brought her photos to share with people at the Cayuga Bird Club eBird workshop - this bird was definitely a Gyrfalcon!
Barbara was near Great Gully Road when she first spotted the bird. "I was headed north on Rte 90, and spotted the bird in the trees on the right (east side of Rte 90), around noon. I turned right onto Great Gully Road. It was in the cluster of 3 or 4 bare trees on the right side of Great Gully Road, before the top of the hill. Then he flew across Rte 90 (to the west side) into the very top of an evergreen in the field (see photo attached) and proceeded to harass the Canada Geese in the field. I lost him for a bit, but watched and waited for the birds in the fields to be disturbed, that's how I spotted him again. Then he flew back up to Rte 90 next to the road, still on the west side, and I got the nicest photos. I spent close to an hour start to finish, before he flew off to the north east over the hill beyond Great Gully Road." Barbara is not yet on the Cayugabirds Listserv, but said it was fine if I shared her sighting. I am attaching a small version of her photo, but not sure if it will go through the listserv. If it does not, and you want to see the image, let me know and I can give you Barbara's email address so that you can see a photo of the Gyrfalcon. Diane Morton -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
