Wayne,

Thank you for the clarification! All Gyrfalcons I have ever seen in the
wild, including along the Hulahula River in the Brooks Range in Alaska, have
all been gray morphs. The only white morph I have ever seen, was many years
ago in Germany, kept by a falconer. Needless to say, a brown Gyrfalcon had
me consult a field guide. There it was on page 123 of the combined
Eastern/Western Peterson "Field Guide to the Birds of North America": Brown
Morph in flight and head only! In the meanwhile I have checked in half a
dozen other field guides and reference books and you are absolutely correct!
The lesson learned from this, is "Thou shalt not use only one field guide!".
Come to think about it, I did not even look at Sibley - I wonder if he is
correct? Of course would "phase' not be a juvenile form on the way to
adulthood?

Cheers,

Hans Feddern
Twin Lakes/Federal Way, WA.
thefedderns at gmail.com

On Sat, Nov 13, 2010 at 10:40 PM, Wayne Weber <contopus at telus.net> wrote:

> Tweeters,
>
>
>
> A recent message made reference to a ?brown phase? GYRFALCON. For the
> record, there is no such animal. The birds sometimes referred to as ?brown
> phase? are actually immatures of the gray morph or gray phase. Their plumage
> is much browner than that of adults, and they are usually heavily streaked
> on the underparts-- both of these features making them pretty easy to tell
> from adults.
>
>
>
> There are three color morphs or ?phases? of Gyrfalcons: white, gray, and
> dark (blackish), as well as, undoubtedly, a few individuals that are
> intermediate. In Washington and elsewhere along the Pacific coast, virtually
> 100% of the birds we see are gray-phase. There is no brown phase?they are
> just the immatures of the gray phase.
>
>
>
> Wayne C. Weber
>
> Delta, BC
>
> contopus at telus.net
>
>
>
>
>
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