The behavior of this bird does not sound very much like a Gyrfalcon to me.  I used to see them quite regularly in Denali, and they don't act like Buteos, but rather more typical of a big, robust falcon.  Flight is powerful and direct.  I never saw them circling or soaring.   Flight is more like that of like a Merlin on steroids.  The tail is also long, not quite as long as a Goshawk, but distinctly longer than a Buteo.  Dihedral is definitely not consistent with a Gyr.
   
  Krider's, light Harlan's, even albino Red-tail sound like possiblities based on the information
   Anyone for immature Ferruginous?
   
  Ross Geredien
   
  

Sydney Jacobs <> wrote:
  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
>




Ross Geredien
Good Migrations Photography
www.goodmigrationsphoto.com
1-610-850-5035
   

       
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