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November 2015

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Subject:
From:
Dave and Jean Matheny <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Dave and Jean Matheny <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 3 Nov 2015 07:30:59 -0700
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Hi Steve,

I've seen a lot of both prairies and gyrs, and this looks like a gyr.  Gyrs 
have a very wide range of color and pattern -- prairies less so, and this 
looks too dark and heavily marked for a prairie. Josh mentioned its large 
size, and it looks too broad through the chest for a prairie -- I think the 
broadness would be more apparent if the bird was seen more from the front, 
but even from the side it looks pretty solid. The head also strikes me as 
being more typical of a gyr's than a prairie.

Jean Matheny

-----Original Message----- 
From: Steve Weston
Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2015 12:23 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [mou-net] Possible Gyrfalcon--Kandiyohi County

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
[log in to unmask]

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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