Thanks, Chris! Such long term survival is always amazing. The chronology you describe makes it sound like a close match to what I remember of the history of the Dakota County bird, but I have the years of that bird wrong in memory. It would seem highly unlikely for two such birds to overwinter so far south in the same time period, though. Linda
On Tue, Mar 3, 2015 at 5:28 PM, Chris West <swallowtailedk...@gmail.com> wrote: > The way I heard it, the Gyr was banded in 2003 by David Alexander and was > a 3rd year when he banded it. He trapped it again this year and the upon > reading the band number, found it to be the same individual. > > The bird returned for three of the next four winters, then disappeared for > eight years, during which time, who knows where it was. > > Given how old it was when it was banded, the bird is 14 years, 8 months > old and is a male. It is the currently the oldest known wild Gyrfalcon. > This bests the old record by nearly three years. > > > > --Chris W > Madison, WI (currently Duluth, MN) > > On Tue, Mar 3, 2015 at 5:09 PM, linda whyte <bi...@moosewoods.us> wrote: > >> Does anyone know if the Gyrfalcon currently overwintering in Superior, WI >> might be the same one that was seen for a few winters in a row in Dakota >> County? I don't recall the Dakota one being banded, though I saw it >> several >> times. But I have heard that the Superior one was banded by Jackie >> (Fallon?) over 14 years ago and is the oldest living one in banding >> record; >> not that the views we had of it yesterday allowed us to see a band. >> >> Nevertheless, this was a very impressive bird to see. We had first sought >> it in mid-morning with no luck. Having heard it's usually seen between 2 >> and 4 in the afternoon, we returned to Connor's Point then. Despite 2 >> hours >> of diligent searching from just outside the Peavey grain elevator >> property, >> we couldn't find it on any of the structures and decided to leave. >> Before departing, we drove the length of the dead-end road, looking for >> another glimpse of a Hoary Redpoll we'd seen in a small garden there. >> While >> we were doing that, the Gyrfalcon flew into the Peavey property, according >> to another birder there. We were scrutinizing the structures as we drove >> out, and Curt spotted the bird just as the other birder was trying to >> signal us. He and Rob worked to find good scoping scoping points. >> The bird had landed on the northwest corner (harbor side) of a tall, >> square >> stanchion of metal struts in front of the building with the red "Peavey" >> lettering. By perching there, it was likely able to scan the nearby flock >> of mallards foraging on the SE corner of the Peavey rail-lot, without >> being >> seen by the ducks. >> It spent about a half hour perched, facing the sunlight, affording us >> great >> looks in our scopes at its facial features and belly. It turned its head >> over its back, presumably to the oil gland above its tail, and preened a >> bit. When it lifted a leg to scratch its chin and pick at its talons, I >> never thought to look for a band. Shortly afterward, around 5:00, it took >> off, dropping behind the buildings out of our sight. We did not re-locate >> it. It was a magnificent bird to see, and it would be nice to know if it >> might be the same one that sojourned here in MN. >> >> Linda Whyte >> >> ---- >> Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net >> Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html >> > > > > -- > Happy Birding! --Chris W, Madison, WI > Tour Leader > Swallowtail Birding Tours > https://www.facebook.com/Swallowtailbirdingtours?ref=hl > http://swallowtailedkite.blogspot.com > http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallowtailphoto > > > Interpretive Naturalist > Mississippi Explorer Cruises > http://mississippiexplorer.com/ > ch...@mississippiexplorer.com > > > > ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
