Hi All, A small correction on some wording in the "Raptor Observations" section of the Oct 1st report for the Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch (at least for those who are hawkwatching fans!!)
I had stated.... "One very interesting Peregrine was a VERY PALE bird with virtually no malar strip or normal distictive dark helmut look on the head. Our thought is this was one of the more uncommon "Falco peregrinus tundrius" subspecies." I should've qualified this as.... "Our thought is this was one of the more uncommon PALE TYPE PLUMMAGED "Falco peregrinus tundrius" subspecies." The fact is that the majority of Peregrines that pass through Southern Ontario during migration are subspecies tundrius (my thanks to Alan Wormington for pointing this out :). This particular Peregrine had a unique pale looking plummage (especially around the head) that I'd never observed before. I just wanted to make sure that folks didn't get the wrong idea about which subspecies was the more prevalent in our observations. :) For note....of the 17 Peregrines we tallied on Saturday the majority were subspecies tundrius with both adult and juvenile birds. Our count for Peregrines so far this fall is 72 which has been really fantastic Let's hope for a few more over the next couple of weeks! Good birding!! Dave J Brown
