Hi All:

Yesterday, Monday, afternoon I saw a heavily marked, brown gyrfalcon, with
bluish bare parts, perched on the smokestack at Stanwood. I watched it for
about 5 or 10 minutes before it (probably a "she" by size) flew off to the
west and dropped out of view behind a building. This was at about 3:30. I
understand, from Birdbox, that some other folks saw it earlier in the
afternoon on Thomle Road, just south of Stanwood.
I wonder if this could be the bird that someone reported about a month ago
at the end of Boe Road, south of Stanwood. That bird was reported as a dark
morph juvenile. I have no experience with dark gyrs, so I looked through all
my references last night and found that they were somewhat contradictory.
So, all I can say is that it was very heavily streaked, dark bird. I could
see a faint malar stripe, even on the side of it that was in deep shade.
Hope it sticks around!
I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas holiday and the sunshine - a gift in
itself :-).

Ruth Taylor
Seattle/Ballard
rutht at seanet.com