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Today while driving uphill on Prince Street in downtown Halifax, my attention was caught by the sight of a powerful bird flying away from Citadel Hill towards the Harbour.  Before the light turned green and I had to turn left, I had a chance to observe that the underside of the bird was almost entirely white.  It had dark elbow patches, but  just a faint appearance of grey barring in the rest of the wing linings.  There were no bands visible in the narrowly-held tail. I didn't see the upperside well, but had an impression of darker shoulders.  I didn't notice any facial markings.
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My first thought was that it wasn't right  for a Peregrine Falcon - we have had them on the high-rises in other winters, so one looks for them.  But the overall impression was like a falcon, not an accipiter or a buteo.  
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I turned up Citadel Hill and pulled over at the top, hoping to relocate the bird from that vantage point, without success.  I also promptly checked the one field guide I carry with me in the car, and couldn't identify the bird to my satisfaction.  I've seen all the hawks we usually see in Nova Scotia, and I felt it wasn't something I had ever seen before.
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I have been looking through my books and various websites since getting home, and think it may have been a white-phase Gyrfalcon.  What bothers me, though, is that I gather I should have been impressed by the size, and I wasn't, particularly.
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Could it have been something else - an albinistic Peregrine, say?  Has anyone else seen anything like it?
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Patricia L. Chalmers
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Halifax
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