Hey Tweeters -- need your help, as I'm not well-practiced at seeing gyrs.
At around 1:30 at Grayland Beach State Park Chris Warlow and I may have
seen a gyrfalcon. Some pictures are at the link below. Although they are
very dark due to the contrast against the bright sky--and heavily
cropped--they do show the silhouette to good advantage. I was struck by
the large potbelly appearance and the seemingly stocky head. It was
booking it at high speed-- a couple hundred feet over the beach, incredibly
fast in level flight, bent back wings moving stiff and quick, showing very
little "flex" to the flight surfaces. It spooked up a large shorebird
flock well to the south of trail 5. Although there was little to compare
its size to, it had the potential to be at least as large or larger than a
peregrine. Let me know what you think...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76235339 at N02/sets/72157631877528574/

-Joe Dlugo
Tenino, WA.
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