[birding] Details about the White Gyr

[M & R Campbell]

Because I didn't get to watch it for more than a few seconds, and because I don't trust snapshot identifications, I thought I ought to describe what I saw of the bird that I saw.

About 11:00 this morning here in Peoria, I spotted something white flying behind some short trees 250 yards to the northeast.  I followed it with my binocs as it flew out from behind the trees and headed southward.  It looked pure white, and, from the size of it, my first thought was Snowy Owl, but the wings seemed too pointed.  It flew without much effort at about treetop height--30 ft--and its jizz was of a raptor with a small head and thick neck.  It was directly east of me, and not more than 180 yards away, when I decided that it would look like a large falcon if only it weren't white.  It disappeared behind trees and haze a couple hundred yards and a few seconds later.  In all, I watched it for about a quarter mile, but for only a few seconds.  The sun was shining at the time, but I wasn't able to pick up any color beside white, so my ID is based mostly on the bird's shape and apparent size as well as its color.  If the bird had been gray instead of white, I think I would have put it down as a probable Prairie Falcon.  I can't think of anything that I could have mistaken for a white Gyr, but as Sibley says "unmistakable, but beware..."


David Irons recently advertised the Brownsville CBC by describing central Linn County as "raptor alley."  I occurs to me now that a Gyrfalcon would be the 17th species of raptor that I've seen between the Willamette River and the Brownsville foothills--in this year alone.  I'm not sure that we have more raptors per acre, but you can see a long way across the grass fields.


Randy Campbell

Peoria


Oh, yeah:  I was taking a walk at the time.



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