Hi there Tweets,

This weekend I was birding at Pescadero Marsh in San Mateo Co. here in
California and saw the first Peregrines of the migration. There were two
birds present, one was a male and the other was a female (direct size
comparison) and their plumage was basically exactly the same. They were
juveniles, with yellow legs and blue cere and orbital ring. Now I am having
trouble identifying which form they belong to, all I can definitely say is
that they are not _tundrius_.

Here is the rough description: Upperparts dark brown with a blue bloom or
wash. In certain lights they look bluish above, which made us think that one
was an adult the first time we saw it. In other lights, the birds look
brown. There are very limited pale fringes to the upperparts, only
noticeable on the tertials really. The head is dark blackish-brown with a
pale bit on the nape, no pale supercilium and a broad mustache. The pale
area posterior to the moustache was noticeably streaked. The underparts were
densely streaked all the way from the throat to the belly, including the
thighs. The tail was coloured like the back, and did not show any barring
from above.

So what are they? From my references, several of these characters point to
them being juvenile Peale's Peregrines, however, there are few records for
this form in California. There was a nest of _anatum_ Peregrines this summer
only 40 km or so from where I saw these birds. Could they be _anatum_ given
my description? The Peterson Hawks guide makes the subspecific
identification seem rather clear cut, however I am guessing that this is not
really the case. A wide ranging form such as _anatum_ is likely quite
variable, and may intergrade with Peale's somewhere, or is this not the
case? The other problem is all of those weird genes running around due to
the hacking programs conducted throughout the continent. Unfortunately,
while I was in Vancouver I never paid close attention to getting a good look
at a migrant Peale's Peregrine, hopefully some of you have and can help me out.

Thanks
Alvaro Jaramillo
Half Moon Bay, CA

alvaro at quake.net