Subject: [Tweeters] Another law of birding...
Date: Jan 10 19:30:44 2008
From: Kelly Cassidy - lostriver at completebbs.com


.you will get a tantalizing glimpse of a strange yard bird as you are
leaving for an appointment you can't miss.



Which happened to me a few minutes after going to the website and laughing
over the other rules. I went downstairs, was getting ready to leave for the
dentist, and a large white bird flashed by the windows. The little birds
were ducking for cover. The bird swooped by again, sideways (one wing up,
the other down). It was about the size of a Great Horned Owl, but very
white, more slender bodied and slender winged, with darker wing tips. The
immediate impression was of a gull, but a gull would be highly unlikely in
my yard and this "gull" was clearly trying to scare up something. It swooped
by again, again sideways. I scrambled for the binos and rushed outside.



No big white bird in sight. I have to get going, but I put the binos in the
car. While opening the gate across the drive, I see it again flying fast
beyond a tree. I got the binos on it for about half a second. Very pale,
long tail, an impression of barring on the tail, maybe a white terminal
band, but not sure, white or very pale all over except darker towards the
wing tips, head maybe a little darker than the body, but I wasn't sure
whether I was seeing the top or the bottom of the bird as it wheeled around.
That was it. Without a bird guide, I was thinking maybe goshawk, but when I
got home and looked through the guides, gyrfalcon looked closer. Of course,
the bird was no longer around when I got home. Sigh.



Kelly Cassidy

Pullman