i will respond:EARLY GYRFALCON:last year we had a gyrfalcon on october 21-
1996 right on time. it was the day our first sowy owl in the state arrived
at EDIZ HOOK clallam co.the gyrfalcon was sighted in sequim 3 crabs.it also
was a ,brown-morph

GODWIT2worldnet.att.net

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> From: Michael Price <mprice at mindlink.bc.ca>
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Early Gyrfalcon (was: Saturday Whidbey Island, etc)
> Date: Monday, October 20, 1997 11:59 AM
>
> Hi Tweets,
>
> Martin Muller writes:
>
> >Brown phase Gyrfalcon.
>
> No intent to second-guess here, Martin, but I think 'brown-morph'
> individuals turn out to be grey-morph juveniles. Maybe Don or Tom can
> comment here?
>
> >Wow, what a sight! And unexpected
> >(yes, Michael, I hear you, probably normal this "early" ;) )
>
> Early by nearly a month, Martin! Wow! indeed, both for the sighting of
that
> powerhouse falcon and the early date. I have Nov 15--Apr 03 as working
> averages for Gyrfalcon, but my hunch is that the majority of first Gyrs
will
> show up Week 1 Nov. Maybe like Rough-legged Hawks they also send out
early
> juv pioneers that no one sees until it's the appropriate time of year to
see
> them. Nah, Gyr's too easy to tell: if one shows up we'd know it. Maybe
not;
> see below.
>
> So is a bird untypically this far out of pattern a wild bird or an
escaped
> falconer's bird? If there was no jesses or bands, hard to say. And before
a
> charge of being anti-falconer comes howling across the water, let me say
> that in the six years as Vancouver BC's Alert operator, based on reports
> from competent observers there seemed to be on average each year between
one
> and three different falconers' birds loose around Boundary Bay, sometimes

> Iona Island, sometimes weird falcon X falcon crosses, a Red-tailed Hawk
or
> two, several Gyrs and Peregrines; once, even a Harris's Hawk. Hawks and
> falcons seem remarkably easy to lose back to nature. That said, the first

> birds south are juveniles, so that suggests that this bird was of wild
> provenance.
>
> I don't know what the earliest dates in WA are like but Gyrfalcons here
> (Vancouver BC) seem tightly dialed in to their schedule and don't show
> wildly-early/wildly late dates; quite the opposite. There is another
> possibility, though, and this I warn is just a guess, is that Gyrs go
> through here earlier, Weeks 3-4 Oct, but not through the relatively
handful
> of sites where 98% of the local birders congregate on weekends. There
were
> tantalising reports of large falcons high up on the local North Shore
> mountains just outside the 'conventional' migration windows.
>
> >The bird briefly
> >landed on a post across the water, was harassed by a Northern Harrier
and took
> >for the trees, disappearing from view. A lifer for several group
members.
>
> An adult Gyr likely might have ensured that the harrier became the
harried, PDQ.
>
> Sounds like a great trip, Martin!
>
> Michael Price We aren't flying...we're falling with
style!
> Vancouver BC Canada -Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story
> mprice at mindlink.net