Subject: Granville Clint, Migrant Raptors, March 28 1999
Date: Mar 28 22:04:38 1999
From: Michael Price - mprice at mindlink.bc.ca


Hi Tweets,

I decided to head down to Canada Place and see the cool 3-d Imax T-Rex show
there but their projector was on the fritz, so out onto the freezing
promenade deck and out with the bins to look for Granville Clint, the male
Peale's Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus which winters on what's now the
Vancouver Province's head office (the Prov is the tabloid half of the
mudslinging daily print media here--any coincidence between it and reputable
journalism will get the offender summarily fired) at the N end of Granville
St. Yep, there he was midway up the N side of the building, as usual. Smart
lad, roosting under a hot-air vent on a day like this. Some people out there
seem to think returning migrants mean it must be spring: I'd say it's spring
when it stops snowing and warms up a little.

Any local birder who wants to see him (he's at far bins distance: you'll
need a scope for a good look) better do so quickly: Week 1 April is the
little rascal's average departure period, Week 2 October his usual return.
I'd love to know where he goes.

In the brief fifteen minutes which I was able to stand before wussing out
and taking cover from that miserably raw wind, the following raptors headed
north overhead: one adult Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus, one
miles-high Merlin F. columbarius, and two Red-tailed Hawks Buteo
jamaicensis, one of them rufous-morph, the other too high to see.

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
mprice at mindlink.net