Hello. Today I shared some excitement with a large gyrfalcon in the booming town of George, WA, where I hunt upland birds. There were actually two in the area but this particular one was perched on a telephone pole along side a patch of willows where rooster pheasants often reside. I knew what the falcon was up to here. Experience has taught me that during the late season when pheasant hunting is difficult (all the dumb birds got killed) and the remaining roosters are always 200 yards ahead of you, the presence of these great raptors can be used to a hunter's advantage. I've seen pheasants flush in front of red-tails, swainsons, rough-legged, harriers, and prairie falcons. But when there's a gyrfalcon around they'd rather play hide and seek with my labs.

In past seasons, a gyrfalcon has assisted me with at least three late season roosters. Today my labs and I were to be the assistants to this big female gyrfalcon (guess by size). The pressure from the dogs was too great and four pheasants were forced to take to the air. But instead of the usual quarter mile sprint across a field, they only flew 30 feet into some thick bushes. That got the falcon's attention and she quickly flew and gained altitude high above the activity. My dogs must have been confused why I was not shooting. Shortly after, one of the dogs flushed another pheasant. This one decided to make a mad dash across a field of cut corn. I'd say it had a 400 yard lead on the falcon before it was spotted. What I saw next was incredible. My best guess as to the falcon's velocity is roughly 100 mph, perhaps more. The pheasant wasn't slowing down any and had a ways to go before reaching any protective cover, but the falcon closed in quickly and as it got within about 30 yards, the pheasant stalled its flight and dropped into the corn stubble. I cannot believe the falcon did not kill itself when it hit the ground with that speed. I never did see a kill but within seconds the falcon began to feed.

To make this an official tweeters post, I also saw many redpolls, pipits, larks, 2 Northern Shrikes, 6,000+ mallards funneling into a corn field (incredible sight!). Unfortunately birdwatching (with binoculars) makes for unsuccessful pheasant hunting, and I'm sure I'm passing over some great finch/sparrow sightings. George is rich with wildlife. The activity I wrote about today was along Frenchman Hill Road, near Q Road. Thanks.

Andy Papadatos
Snohomish, WA
Baker at snohomishbakery.com