Josh - My first impression was a juvenile gray-morph Gyrfalcon, so I asked Frank Nicoletti (Hawk Ridge bander & former counter, and one of MN’s foremost raptor experts) his opinion. Without hesitation, he confirmed the ID as a juv Gyr. Hope this helps, and nice find!
Kim Eckert, Duluth On Nov 2, 2015, at 9:12 PM, Josh Wallestad <joshwalles...@gmail.com> wrote: Today, 2 November, as I traveled west on Kandiyohi CR 19, there was a large raptor perched on a pole. Initially I thought it was just one of the ubiquitous Red-tailed Hawks in the area, but as I drove by, the GISS for Red-tail was off, way off. I stopped to take a look. I was struck by the heavy streaking on the breast. Coupled with the bird's large size, I thought I might be dealing with a juvenile Northern Goshawk, so I proceeded to take lots of photos. I looked at my photos and compared them to photos of juvenile Goshawks, and they weren't a match. Then it dawned on me that the face looked kind of like a Peregrine Falcon. I just assumed it was a juvenile Peregrine (the most probable) and posted it as such in the Facbook Group, MN Heartland Birding+. Bob Dunlap questioned me on the bird's size because he was not getting a Peregrine impression and said the gray cheek and weak mustache was leading him toward the Gyrfalcon. I posted all of my uncropped photos on a separate page on my blog, A Boy Who Cried Heron. You can access that page and the photos by clicking this direct link: http://www.aboywhocriedheron.com/falcon-photos/ Gyr had not even entered my mind as a remote possibility. If it had, I would have worked for more photos and better photos. Regarding the behavior of the bird, it never flushed during the three or four times I drove by it and stopped to take pictures. I came back out about 45 minutes later, and the bird was not there. This was about 3 miles east of US 71, just SE of Willmar. I'd love for some experts to weigh in on this. Josh Wallestad ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html