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At 09:33 PM 29/09/2008, Eric Mills wrote: >I have some serious doubts about your Gyrfalcon. >Peregrines can vary a lot in size and colour, >and they have a longer tail relative to body >than do Gyrfalcons. Gyrs actually have very >broad wings and short tails relative to body, >giving them at times a Goshawk-like look. The >long tail that you mention almost certainly >precludes Gyr. I might mention that there was a >very large dark Peregrine that hung around the >Western Light all last fall and that I almost called a Gyr myself. The >same bird? Who knows. There have been several Gyrfalcons reported in Nova Scotia in the past two weeks. I recall reports from Cape Sable Island, HRM, and Brier Island. All were of dark-plumaged individuals. And, indeed, several such birds are reported each autumn. And I once reported an early October Gyrfalcon from Seal Island, another dark bird. But a recent event at a Texas hawkwatch has caused me to revisit my own sighting, and to have me encourage anyone else who sees a possible Gyrfalcan in autumn to THOROUGHLY document the sighting. An account of the encounter is posted here: http://www.ccbirding.com/thw/2008/gyr.html Go to the bottom of the page, and read up. The first (ie oldest) posting is at the bottom. The photos of the bird are at the top of the page. Keep in mind that 25+ hawkwatchers, some very experienced, thought the bird was a dark-phase Gyrfalcon. But when the photos could be viewed afterwards by hawk identification specialists, all concluded that the bird was a dark large Peregrine Falcon. The ID of this bird is still being debated, but the point to me is clear. In Nova Scotia we cannot be blasé regarding the reporting of dark-phase Gyrfalcons at any time of year, and we should try to photograph them if possible, and provide written documentation. Without such documentation, and given the difficulty of accurately separating dark-phase Gyrfalcons from large dark-phase Peregrine Falcons, any undocumented reports are of little or no value to the ornithological record. With respect, ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blake Maybank maybank@ns.sympatico.ca Editor, "Nova Scotia Birds" author, "Birding Sites of Nova Scotia" http://maybank.tripod.com/BSNS.htm White's Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada
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