The previously reported Gyrfalcon that has been hanging around Gilgo Beach for 10+ days obliged a small group of birders this morning by flying relatively close to shore at one point. This allowed me to get some photos that should be reasonably helpful in clearing up the age of this individual.
5 photos can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29840397@N08/ As Pete Gustas accurately pointed out, the upperparts patterning of this individual is indeed adult-like. However, the cere (base of the upper mandible) seems to have no hint of yellow, and is blue-gray. The legs are fairly yellowish, which is another point for it being an older bird. I'm guessing that these discrepancies, on balance, point to this being an older immature ("subadult," if you like), so maybe a bird in its 2nd winter. I've asked authorities with more knowledge than myself regarding the ageing of Gyrfalcons about this, so hopefully they'll be able to confirm or deny this fairly definitively. The bird hung out in the Gilgo Beach area for almost the entire day today, (and was in view during the majority of the time that I spent there) though at times it was extremely distant to the NW, and could be easily missed, or even seen and just not seen well enough to identify (the latter seemed to be a problem a bunch today, from what I gather). It was fairly active during the first half of the day, flying from perch to perch to both the east and west of Gilgo, but usually staying within sight of the main parking lot, which offers an excellent vantage point for several of the bird's favorite perches, though it isn't very close to any of them. Also directly north of the parking lot, close, was a crowd-pleasing American Bittern, easily seen for an extended period of time while the tide was fairly high. The mixed-species Scaup flock that is often gaining and losing different individuals through the day is also an interesting study, if you need something to do while waiting for the Gyrfalcon to appear, or for the distantlumpFalcon to do something interesting. The previously reported female Barrow's Goldeneye continued in the inlet to the south of the western section of Oak Beach, several miles to the East of the Gyrfalcon spot. First thing this morning, there were 4 White-winged Crossbills, and 3 White-crowned Sparrows at Jones Beach West End, and around mid-day the 6 Harlequin Ducks were off the easternmost jetty at Point Lookout. Good Birding, -Doug Gochfeld. Brooklyn, NY. -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
