Great find! My quick impression is a Prairie Falcon. It does not seem
chunky enough for a Gyr. Face pattern looks more like a Prairie with the
white behind the mustache. I can't tell the color. It may be too gray for
a Prairie. But, I have to admit that I have not seen enough of either bird.
Steve Weston
On Quigley Lake in Eagan, MN
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On Mon, Nov 2, 2015 at 9:12 PM, Josh Wallestad <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Today, 2 November, as I traveled west on Kandiyohi CR 19, there was a large
> raptor perched on a pole. Initially I thought it was just one of the
> ubiquitous Red-tailed Hawks in the area, but as I drove by, the GISS for
> Red-tail was off, way off. I stopped to take a look. I was struck by the
> heavy streaking on the breast. Coupled with the bird's large size, I
> thought I might be dealing with a juvenile Northern Goshawk, so I proceeded
> to take lots of photos. I looked at my photos and compared them to photos
> of juvenile Goshawks, and they weren't a match. Then it dawned on me that
> the face looked kind of like a Peregrine Falcon. I just assumed it was a
> juvenile Peregrine (the most probable) and posted it as such in the Facbook
> Group, MN Heartland Birding+. Bob Dunlap questioned me on the bird's size
> because he was not getting a Peregrine impression and said the gray cheek
> and weak mustache was leading him toward the Gyrfalcon.
>
> I posted all of my uncropped photos on a separate page on my blog, A Boy
> Who Cried Heron. You can access that page and the photos by clicking this
> direct link:
>
> http://www.aboywhocriedheron.com/falcon-photos/
>
> Gyr had not even entered my mind as a remote possibility. If it had, I
> would have worked for more photos and better photos. Regarding the
> behavior of the bird, it never flushed during the three or four times I
> drove by it and stopped to take pictures. I came back out about 45 minutes
> later, and the bird was not there. This was about 3 miles east of US 71,
> just SE of Willmar.
>
> I'd love for some experts to weigh in on this.
>
> Josh Wallestad
>
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