At about 3 PM today I located the falcon on the last (westernmost) power line
pole in the open field. This is the line running south of the Lewin Farms
building on Sound Avenue. After a few minutes the bird made a dive at
something on the ground, perched briefly on another pole, then headed north
over Sound Avenue and out of sight. The power lines continue to the north
here, but although I spent about 20 minutes looking around in the area and
returning to the original spot, I could not relocate the bird.
Mike Cooper
Ridge, LI, NY
----- Original Message -----
From: Hugh McGuinness
Cc: NYSBIRDS-L
Sent: Sunday, December 13, 2009 7:38 PM
Subject: Re:[nysbirds-l] Pale falcon near Riverhead, Long Island brings
excitement on a wet and gloomy day
For those going to look at the falcon reported today in Calverton, I would
like to expand on Angus' directions: The bird spent all of its perching time on
the high tension poles that run through the agricultural fields along Hulse
Landing Road north of Rt 25A. The bird ranged from Hulse Landing Rd to the tree
row at the edge of the field about 1/2 mile west, which can best be viewed from
Sound Ave.
In addition, if any birder has ties to the falconry community, it would be
good to check to see if anyone is reporting a lost bird that resembles the
Calverton falcon.
Hugh
Hugh McGuinness
The Ross School
18 Goodfriend Drive
East Hampton, NY 11937
hmcguinn...@ross.org
On Dec 13, 2009, at 6:38 PM, Angus Wilson wrote:
Around noon today, Tony Lauro found a large pale falcon hunting over the
fields between Sound Avenue, Hulse Landing Road and Route 25A in Calverton near
Riverhead (Suffolk Co.). Hugh McGuinness and I beat our way through the Sunday
traffic and ever worsening rain to find Tony and a small crowd of Long Island
birders looking at the falcon perched on a tall power (or phone) pole.
Some grainy, but I hope useful, photos are posted on my South Fork blog:
http://birdingtotheend.blogspot.com/2009/12/extralimital-pale-falcon-brings.html
It was a fantastic looking (1st-year?) bird, very pale gray bordering on
white. Within minutes of our arrival the falcon made a couple spectacular dives
in pursuit of Mouring Doves and had apparently been doing this for a while. The
tentative identification by Tony and initially endorsed by all was a pale-morph
GYRFALCON. However, some of us felt that subtle aspects did not fit our
expectations but more on this later. Our elation was short lived when we got a
better chance to study the legs which had been obscured by the tops of the
poles or the bird's tail in most views. Little-by-little we realized that it
had leather ankle bracelets and this was confirmed as it came into land after
one of its sorties. Drat! An escaped falconry bird. Tony Lauro took the
disappointing news with grace and most folks soon headed for their cars to
escape cold and unrelenting rain. Hugh and I lingered for a bit trying to get
photo-documentation of the offending leg ornaments. Over the next 20-30 mins we
witnessed a couple more flights including an amazing high speed streak right
over the farm buildings we were hiding behind. Escape or not, this is one fast
bird!
Hugh raised the possibility of a hybrid, possible a Gyr x Saker cross,
rather than a pure Gyr based on the sleeker profile and noticeably pale head.
The considerable activity of the bird also seemed a bit unusual based on our
collective but limited experience. Obviously these are subjective criteria and
as has been mentioned before, the identification of hybrids (there are several
popular combos) is difficult. More research is needed. Assuming I've correctly
aged the bird as a 1st-yr based primarily on the crisp edges to the scapulars
and wing coverts, then the yellow rather than blue feet may also indicate a
hybrid. There are two lessons here, first that large falcon ID is not
necessarily straightforward and second, that birds need to be studied
carefully; even something as seemingly obvious as the presence of leather
straps around both legs may not be revealed immediately. One or two photos are
not necessarily sufficient and must always be evaluated alongside the details
noted by the observers.
Anyway, we all enjoyed the bird tremendously and thank Tony for not only
getting the word out immediately but for staying on the bird to make sure we
all saw it. No doubt people will be looking for the bird over the next few days
and reports, positive or negative are encouraged.
--
Angus Wilson
New York City & The Springs, NY, USA
http://birdingtotheend.blogspot.com/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 8.5.427 / Virus Database: 270.14.106/2563 - Release Date: 12/13/09
19:47:00
--
NYSbirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES
Archives:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html
Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/
--
