Message:

[

Previous   Next

]

By Topic:

[

Previous   Next

]

Subject:

Re: Gyrfalcon - Cumberland, MD

From:

Sydney Jacobs

Reply-To:

Sydney Jacobs

Date:

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:33:36 -0500

Perhaps this could have been a Krider's Red-tailed Hawk or a light  
morph Harlan's Red tail Hawk??.....

On Dec 17, 2007, at 9:23 PM, David Yeany II wrote:

> As crazy as it sounds, I am fairly certain that I observed a white
> morph Gyrfalcon over the spray fields at the North Branch of the C&O
> Canal tonight around 4:40PM. My hopes were to find the Short-eared
> Owls posted earlier. However, I found 4 Northern Harriers (2 female, 2
> male) and what I believe was a Gyrfalcon.  It was about 4:40PM and
> just after viewing the four Harriers at once, that I spotted a large
> raptor spiraling up by itself about 400 meters to my Northwest (right)
> as I faced the spray fields.  My initial impression was a large
> Buteo-like raptor.  As I watched the bird spiral upward, it became
> apparent that it was quite pale overall.  The tail and wings were
> broad and the body was tubular, tapering toward the tail.  The wings
> were long and had a rounded, pointed ness to their tips. The tail was
> not long, but fanned and broad.  The bird appeared completely white
> underneath with no sign of dark markings of any kind, except dark
> edging of the wingtips. The upper side of the bird was
> whitish/grayish, but not as bright white as underneath.  This
> coloration was clearly uniform above, except the edges of the
> outermost primaries were again black. While soaring, its wings
> appeared flat and sometimes showing a minute dihedral with
> ever-so-slightly upturned wing tips.  The few flaps it did give were
> quite stiff.  Any comments are welcomed and I will be submitting a
> report to Phil Davis.  As you can imagine, this was quite an exciting
> observation to have.
>
> Good birding!
> -- 
> David Yeany II
> 109.5 Pennsylvania Ave
> Cumberland, MD 21502
> Cell: (814) 221-4361
>