Subject: [Tweeters] falcon behavior mystery
Date: Aug 11 09:13:59 2006
From: Greenacres Press - greenacres23 at charter.net


Tweeters,
Help! I'm looking for some behavior mavens here to help solve a falcon mystery above the Reno Hilton in northern Nevada.
While waiting for an outdoor concert to begin last week, a "sharp-winged" bird flew over and since it was at sunset, I said to myself, almost on auto pilot, "Nighthawk, cool!" But then as it shot away (and me without my binoculars!), I realized it was waaay too big to be a nighthawk, and where were the white wing stripes, anyway?
I stared at the bird as it ascended the very tall Reno Hilton, a landmark in the city, and proceeded to climb above the top of the building and then just float there! We have a lot of westerly wind here, rising off the Sierra, and glider pilots even come here to "surf" the Sierra Wave, so that is precisely what this bird was doing! It hung up there, maybe watching the spectacular sunset? ... and I tried to will my eyes to zoom in on the "armpits," so I could see which FALCON I was looking at, but no such luck.
After a few minutes of hanging up there motionless, it banked to the right and dove down towards the nearby Truckee River. I figured it was gone and went back to watching the outdoor stage for Johnny Rivers, our featured performer (would he look good at 64? Would he sing "Mountain of Love?").
I glanced back up at the Hilton, and yikes, there was the bird again, hanging there! Well, this went on, maybe 6 times in 45 minutes, and since then I've pondered whether this could be a peregrine or a prairie falcon. If I go by common species, the prairie for sure is the one. Reno birders say it almost has to be a prairie, just because of the odds. But, if I go by behavior, the peregrine is the species known for its affinity to high rises, so peregrine gets the nod.
That's why I'm writing you ... my home town birders. I know Seattle has had its share of high rise peregrines, but my question to you is, does anyone know of prairie falcons doing this? I can't find anything online that says so! At this point, I figure either it was a peregrine, an anomalous prairie OR a prairie behaving naturally either through new copycat adaptations or the possibility that these two similar species have been sometimes misidentified all along. I'd appreciate anyone's two cents on this!
Good birding,
Linda Hiller in Jacks Valley, NV., U.W. zoology grad and Dennis Paulson mentee
greenacres23 at charter.net
P.S. Yes, Johnny Rivers looked awesome at 64, and he did sing Mountain of Love, and I discovered that when you look up for 45 minutes in a crowd of people, pretty soon everyone is looking up, too!