Greetings All

Charlie and Dennis make good points. The bird's wide tail and short wings
(hard to assess from these photos, but I trust the observations of those who
actually saw the bird) point to Gyr. Sharpening and increasing the contrast of the
photo may well have accentuated the facial markings of the Samish falcon,
making it look less Gyr-like. Indeed, the fuzzier pics look more Gyr-like.

However, Charlie's "welcome chance to reflect and go back over the ID "
seems to have led him astray.

Tundra Peregrines are far more variable than they are generally given credit
for (perhaps a good statement about subspecies in general). His statement that
"the dense streaking on the underparts are wrong for tundrius" is incorrect.
For examples, see p. 499 of Wheeler's Raptor's of Western North America which
has pictures of two immature female Tundra Peregrines that are equally (or
perhaps more) heavily marked beneath.

Also stated was that Tundra Peregrines are "paler birds with frosty crowns."
Though in general correct, this is mark is also variable and not true of many
Tundra Peregrines (especially the frosty crown) and is also true of some
non-Tundra Peregrines (again see Wheeler's books). Furthermore, I'd point out that
the sharpened photograph shows a bird with a rather marked pale supercilium
and a narrow dark post-ocular stripe. Indeed, such a facial pattern is far more
typical of Tundra Peregrine than Gyr (though it is certainly possible that
some Gyrs look this way).

Regarding color: perhaps this bird looked "clay gray" in the field, but it
looks rather brown in the photos, which is perfectly fine for an immature
Gyrfalcon. I have seen Peregrines start to attain a gray cast to their mantle while
they are still streaked beneath, so I think this bird's color is irrelevant to
its ID.

As for the photo of the Gyr in Indiana, I'd say that the birds facial pattern
is substantially less contrasting than the Samish bird (as it appears in the
non-fuzzy photo). Indeed, it is the facial pattern I'd expect on a Gyr.

However, upon receiving Dennis' comment that he has a photo of a Gyr from the
Samish with an equally striking malar, I looked at some past photos I've
taken and found one (of a gray adult) with a nice dagger like malar. However, it
does not have a rather striking post ocular stripe nor a rather contrasting
pale supercilium.

All that being said, given the additional information provided (bird's face
pattern not that contrasting in real life, bird very stocky, short wing-on-tail
projection) I am rather convinced this bird is a Gyrfalcon (not that it is
anyone's job to convince me) and retract my previously stated opinion.

And in the end, this points out how easily we are seduced by photographs.
They have the semblance of cold hard reality whereas written notes are
increasingly discarded as "soft" evidence. However, I would trust the description of
experienced observers over a fuzzy (absolutely NO criticism of John Tubbs
intended; photos are what they are) photograph most of the time (even if they are
wrong about underpart streaking in Tundra Peregrines :o).

Cheers
Steve Mlodinow
Everertt WA










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