Hi Tweets,

Jack Bowling writes:

>Caution here. Male Peale's are *usually* much bluer and smaller than the
females.
>The only dead-ringer field mark for distinguishing the two races is that
the whitish
>area to the rear of the "sideburn" in _pealei_ is always streaked with
dusky while
>that of _tundrius_ is unmarked. The pair which frequented (still does?) the
s. end
>of the Charlottes in the late 1970s was typical of this extremism. The
female was as
>big as any of the ravens there and very brownish with only a hint of a
bluish gloss
>on the dorsum. The male was a lil' pipsqueak in comparison and was an
extremely
>beautiful steel-blue on the back.

Thanks for the heads-up, Jack; I'll take a closer look at that area next
time. Not only does he have quite a thin sideburn (just think of a villain
in a 1940's Grade B Western flick), but also two whitish streaks along the
sides of the head as the juv tundrius does; they almost meet on the nape,
showing a slightly interrupted whitish 'V' when the bird's facing away. And
this bird isn't steel-blue, he's pale blue on wings and upperback shading to
near-white suffused very pale blue on lower back and rump. If size isn't a
factor, then these other marks suggest tundrius, but armed with your advice
on the post-stripe area, I'll try to make sure next time.

And Tom Foote writes:

>How about telling us what your secret is? This is an
> amazing array of raptor activity... lucky you. :)

The secret is just trying to look at undisturbed shorebirds for a couple of
hours. '-)

Naw, seriously, I think they've just begun their southbound migration and,
whether genetically or experientially tagged, it's bookmarked as a site
where the pickin's are usually good. Both Peregrines and Merlins of every
race (think I remember a 'prairie' Merlin being reported from there one
year) hit on the shorebirds and waterfowl there. Shorebirds are good
practice for the juv falcons, and I don't think it coincidence that the
first juv falcons arrive here with the first juv shorebirds. Other
non-escaped raptors that prey on them here are Northern Harrier,
Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks, Gyrfalcon and Red-tailed Hawk (watched one
trying for a dowitcher once--pretty good fliers when they want to be, those
red-tails).

It may also be that these adult falcons are are following those shorebirds
of a particular size. Is is just chance or design that the adult Peregrines
showed up about the same time as a whack of southbound Pectoral Sandpipers
and yellowlegs?

As I'm writing this, the first outliers of the remnants of tropical storm
Ignacio just arrived with the sun just vanishing, rapidly lowering cloud and
a few healthy wind gusts but calm following. No Iona today, fershur. Being
stuck at the end of the South Jetty through one thunderstorm was enough for
this kid.

Michael Price The Sleep of Reason Gives Birth to Monsters
Vancouver BC Canada -Goya
mprice at mindlink.net