Birders,

I also saw the Gyrfalcon today. When I arrived it was perched on a power
pole on the N. side of the feedlot. It then launched off the pole and
powered through the air, just above the ground. Before it reached the cattle
yard it lunged upwards and foisted itself into the whirling mass of Rock
Pigeons. The pigeons, at first, were gathered in a huge flock of over 1000
assembled birds. The joint power of their thousand tiny pigeon brains then
led them to the strategy of scattering into three flocks of about 300 birds
each. The Gyr seemed to be playing amongst the cloud of pigeons, but they,
and I knew otherwise. After tirelessly assaulting the pigeons for about 10
minutes the Gyr retired to the trees for rest....or did he? He flew towards
the trees, then, as the pigeons began to settle, he changed direction and
motored through the air on powerful wingbeats back to the unsuspecting
flock. A nice technique, but it didn't pay off and the Gyr eventually did
retire to a snag on the hillside where he preened and enjoyed the sunshine.

Just another boring day in the Okanagan,

Chris Charlesworth
Kelowna, BC