Quick update…
Yesterday I wasn’t planning on doing much birding, as there wasn’t too much around Bruce that would have been new for the yearlist. I actually slept in for once, and was planning on having a chill morning around home… maybe take a drive up the peninsula looking for Golden Eagles. Then just after 10am I got a text from a local birder Pat Sein informing me that she had just found a Gyrfalcon! A mere 15 minute drive from my house.
Needless to say I was out the door and driving up Hwy 6 in record time! When I arrived on the scene I was informed by Pat that the Falcon had flown a few minutes before I got there. I desperately started scouring the area, but after an hour of searching I had only turned up a few Snowy Owls and a Northern Shike. Both good birds, but not my target. Another hour passed, then two more. At this point I had driven well over 100 kilometres and had checked every road within a 20km radius of the initial sighting… and honestly I was starting to get worried. Then, I turned down a road that I had already been down several times (which I thought was one of the more promising spots), when I spied a white bird on top of a telephone post. Even before I put my binoculars up I knew what it was… my favourite bird species, and a great one to get for my big year, the Gyrfalcon! I watched it fly over the adjacent field for several minutes before it landed on a post right beside my car. Just wow, honestly one of my favourite ever encounters with a bird ~ period. All of my previous Gyrfalcons have been grey morphs, but this one was a stunning white one. I enjoyed looking at it in perfect light, with snowy field and a clear blue sky in the background, before it eventually took off and disappeared over a hill and out of sight. Epic find Pat ~ thanks for the great bird!!
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| - Gyrfalcon |
After that I slowly made my way home, stopping to look at a flock of Bohemian Waxwings found by Arni Stinnissen a few minutes earlier. I had already got BOWA for the year up in Elk Lake, but these were my first photos of some this year.
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| - Bohemian Waxwing |
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| - the GYRFLCN in its natural habitat |
- fire emoji
ReplyDeleteEpic encounter. Congratulations Kiah!
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