Twelve of us on the Cayuga Bird Club field trip were at the Knox-
Marcellus overlook around 1:30 watching some 800 Tundra Swans and 100
Mallards/Black Ducks on the ice. One of us (not sure who) drew our
attention to several crows atop one of the taller trees at the east
end of the woods on the left (north) end of the impoundment. Directly
below the crows was a largish (noticably bigger than the crows) raptor
partially hidden by branches. Through multiple scopes and over a half
hour of observation we were able to piece together a fairly full
description, leaving us with the tentative ID of 1st year Gyr. We
observed: grayish-brown back and wings, vertically streaked breast,
light-colored head with a thin dark line extending from slightly in
front of the eye to well behind it, finely barred tail, bluish bill,
fluffy-covered, gray legs (one observer reported yellow feet). After
about 30 minutes the bird took flight, headed straight for the group
of ducks on the ice, flushing them all (the swans stayed put) and
chasing one in looping circles until it escaped to the east over
Puddler's. During the flight we observed pointed, dark-tipped wings,
two-toned wings (coverts noticeably darker than the flight feathers).
At that point we all concluded that it was, indeed, a Gryfalcon. The
bird ended up in one of the smaller trees just past the K-M dike to
the east. We subsequently checked from Towpath Rd and did not re-find
it.
My thanks to all the participants for their patience (on an otherwise
slow day) and great help with the Gyr. Here's hoping that it finds the
food to its liking and stays in the area for a while.
Bob McGuire
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