Subject: [Tweeters] Old Sno-Mo Gyr Sat & Flew - 2/3/14
Date: Feb 4 12:52:37 2014
From: Barbara Deihl - barbdeihl at comcast.net


Renewal !!!

Upon arrival yesterday (Mon.) at Gyrland at about 3 p.m., the bird was present and could be seen as a speck from the road, but there was a bit closer view from 127th Ave SE, so Dory and Ray (Hamlyn) and I spent our first hour or so up there, with our scopes and cameras and got quite immersed in watching Gyrmaine (as a local resident calls him), checking out his markings and preenings, watching and listening to the Snow Goose flock below, finding a Bald Eagle pair in a couple of trees across from us, trying to keep our paws warm while the cold breeze counteracted the sun's rays that were warming us. We tried some digiscoping, but the Gyr was backlit and still at a decent distance from us, on private land. Still, through the scopes we could see him reasonably well. The main difficulty was staying (and parking), far enough off 127th, for safety - no shoulder, as such.

Some of my photos from that vantage point (and from the road below, using my point&shoot, a Panasonic LF1): Flickr set: "Gyr, Ray, Dory, Dog, Bald, Bush, Hawk 'n' Scope":

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjRKY2VK

The Gyr stayed put while we were on 127th, so we decided to go down to the road and look at other things, always hoping to see the falcon move from his spot. It was pretty serene, until Ray & Dory decided to pack it in at about 4:30, after a beautiful Red-tailed Hawk we'd been photographing, flew off to a tree on the Gyr(far) side of the road. I think that hawk, or maybe Ray & Dory's indication that they were ready to leave (did they say it loud enough for the Gyr to hear?...), likely got some action started. Gyrmaine lifted off and went after that redtail AND another one and there was a little skirmish in mid-air, after which the falcon settled onto his usual spot on the tree in the yard with the big white house. Ray & Dory screeched to a halt (well...maybe it wasn't that dramatic), parked and joined the 2 photographers who were right near the tree as did I, eventually, after taking a few shots from the south side of the tree. Would he go or would he stay? The Gyrfalcon stayed maybe fifteen minutes, giving us poses in the yellowing sunlight. Gregg had managed quite well, to get a great set of flight shots as the Gyr took off the 127th tree and came to mix it up with the redtails - I don't know if either he or Rex, the other photographer, captured any of the interaction between Gyrfalcon and redtail.

A couple of people pulled up to find out what we were doing and, as can easily happen, we all got involved in a bit of conversation, relaxing the vigilant watch of the Gyr. Suddenly Mike, one of the folks who had stopped, pointed his camera and starting shooting. The rest of us snapped back to attention, but too late - the Gyr had already flown around the big barn and down somewhere. But Mike was victorious - he managed to get a shot or 2 of the take-off, one of which was pretty darn good - he said he would send it to me via email - hope so !

For my photos of the Gyr in the tree, and the colorful sky which brought the afternoon's 'events' to a close, click on this link to my 2nd Flickr set of the afternoon, that I did using (as Gregg called it), my 'Lummox' camera, a Panasonic Lumix FZ70 : Flickr set: "He Flew and the Sky Was Blue":

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjRKhJyE

Hope we'll see some others' pics from yesterday, from others at the scene (Gregg, Rex, Dory, Ray, Mike, Robert H and a couple other photographers I didn't catch the names of). Gregg has sent out some of his already and they are mighty fine. I saw a few of Dory's point&shoot shots and they were real nice, too (also used a Lumix LF1).

So nice to have the visuals to stimulate 'warm' memories of a wondgyrful afternoon :-)


Barb Deihl

North Matthews Beach - NE Seattle

barbdeihl at comcast.net


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20140204/f30df9f2/attachment.htm