I arranged to run out of Song manuals, so I ~had~ to go to my printer
in Bellevue, which put me in striking distance of the Samish and
the Gyrfalcon that Scott Downes reported. Heh, heh, business trip.<G>

At the West 90:

Let's get rid of the junk birds first; four Snowy Owls, the House
Sparrows of the Samish. Short-eared Owl, second year Bald Eagle, two
Rough-legged Hawks, two Northern Harriers, Red-tailed Hawk. That's in
20 minutes. (I still think the Short-eared is the nicest owl made.)

East of the West 90, on Bayview-Edison Rd. where it goes 90o north of
Samish Island Rd. (The East 90?), and then 90's east to Edison, I saw a
large bird on a pole as I was headed south. Because of the size,
I thought it would be a Red-tail, but as I moved over to the shoulder
and snuck up on it, it was clearly a ~big~ falcon. I moved almost under
the pole and viewed the bird through my sun-roof.

My notes: upper parts grayish-brown (in late afternoon reddish sun).
Light, dim superciliary. Cere and legs gray. Breast and belly have very
dark, heavy longitudinal streaks against white or light gray. Upper parts
have a pronounced scalloped look (light feather edges). Somewhat
indistinct mustache. The appearance of a light patch behind the eye,
the appearance of a lightish forehead, and the appearance of two
light patches on the back of the head -- somewhat vertical patches
side-by-side. Streaks on breast rise to a small, but very distinct,
white throat. White undertail. Wings short re: tail. Yup. Gyrfalcon!

As I moved the car a little closer, the Gyrfalcon flew off. I got out of
the car to observe the bird land on the second pole north of me. Over
my head, a heavily hooded Peregrine Falcon, with strong horizontal
barring on the underparts, made a base leg and final approach to the
Gyrfalcon, and proceeded to make two very noisy, and ineffective, passes
at it. The Peregrine then retired to a pole on the east-west driveway
that extends west from the east-west portion of Bayview-Edison at the
turn. I walked slowly towards the Gyrfalcon, making more notes. When
I reached the critical point, he flew off toward the Peregrine, who
immediately came off his perch, screaming like a banshee. The two met
in mid-air and engaged in two bouts of aerial combat, talon-to-talon.
The Gyrfalcon remained silent, but the Peregrine made up for it.
During the battle, it was apparent the Gyrfalcon was the bigger bird,
and the result was the Peregrine retreating, with the Gyrfalcon returning
to the pole that I assume is in the Peregrine's territory.

Study after I got home: Wheeler-Clark (Peterson's), Wheeler-Clark
Photographic Guide, Kaufman Advanced Birding. My conclusion is that the
Gyrfalcon was a juvenile gray morph. Would the Peregrine be expected to
be a "pealei" by range? It sure had the underparts of an "anatum,"
horizontal barring and light upper breast and throat apparent.

Scott, was the Gyrfalcon your bird?

Didn't look at the ducks. <G>

Jerry Blinn
Silverdale


E-mail from: Jerry Blinn, 23-Jan-1997