I was heading toward City Hall for the second time today. The first time I had set off the metal detector because I forgot I was wearing binoculars, so I made an exception to my rule always to carry binoculars when going outside during daylight. That's when I saw a large falcon fly across Green Street from the Commons, over the Library, and settle on one of the antenna-like things sticking up from the top of the Holiday Inn. A year or two ago I saw a Peregrine Falcon perched there before, and that time I proceeded to briefly but embarrassingly, misidentify it as a Gyrfalcon. I was reluctant to spread the word without double-checking this time. Fortunately I had driven (my visit earlier today was by bike), my car was parked a block away, I had both binoculars and scope in the car (second rule: bring scope when traveling by car in daylight), and the bird was in view of the sidewalk nearby where I set up my tripod: beautiful adult PEREGRINE FALCON.
Clearly I should stick to my rule and bring my binoculars. I enjoyed watching the bird while I waited for the traffic light to change. As I went through the metal detector again, I mentioned to the cop that the binoculars came in handy because there was a Peregrine atop the Holiday Inn. He said, "Yeah, it's been around a lot lately." Maybe he was playing games with me, or maybe he was passing along a misidentification. Karen Edelstein has mentioned a Sharp-shinned Hawk feeding in the shrubbery next to City Hall a couple of times recently. I felt a bit deflated, but there is no particular reason why I should be the first to notice such a spectacular bird over busy downtown Ithaca. When I asked who had seen the Peregrine before, he didn't give me any leads. Anyway, if it were seen New Year's Day it would be another species for the Christmas Bird Count, and if it were first seen Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday it would still be a Count Week bird. So ask around, has anybody noticed a Peregrine in Ithaca earlier this week? Maybe that person can also get first credit for finding one in the Cayuga Lake Basin in 2012 if it was on the 1st or 2nd. It turns out that Charles Eldermire reported a Peregrine to eBird from Taughannock Falls SP on Jan 3, so that's the current record.
Leaving City Hall, and knowing that Joe Wetmore is interested in birds, I stopped in Autumn Leaves used book store to let him know about the Peregrine. He had binoculars handy and came out to see. As we watched, at 3:52 it took flight overhead - an extra treat -going northeast. If I could find where it went I could post a follow-up. Standing in the City Hall parking lot I re-found it atop the brick chimney of a building on Seneca St opposite the Hilton, but I didn't know what to call that building. So I walked across the Commons to Seneca Street and saw a raptor atop the Tompkins Trust building. But the bird's back was brown, wrong for an adult Peregrine. And its face was brown, also wrong. It was an adult RED-TAILED HAWK, and the Peregrine was no longer on that building. I guess it had been displaced during the time I walked across the Commons. I didn't see the Peregrine again, and I didn't try very hard. There are too many nice perches in the area. I returned to my car, thinking about all the busy people in our 2-dimensional world at ground level, and all the things going on in the sky and atop the buildings, including 50 ROCK PIGEONS which continued throughout to fly over the neighborhood.
--Dave Nutter
CayugaRBA PEREGRINE FALCON atop Holiday Inn, Ithaca
--Dave Nutter
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