This morning I found a juv. GYRFALCON along Hwy 285 in South Park 0.2 miles north of mile marker 193. This is just north of the town of Como, Colorado. The bird was perched on a power pole right next to the highway at 6:35am. It sat there for about 25 minutes (while I waited for the sun to come up and give me some better light for photos). At one point the bird's head moved sided to side and up and down rapidly...and regurgitated a sizable pellet! No, I didn't think at that time to go get the pellet to see what the bird had eaten. :-( The pellet is still there on the "Como side" of the pole closest to the GPS coordinates below, if anyone wants to look for it. Several people were stopping nearby along the highway to watch several cow elk attempt to cross the highway. I think the Gyrfalcon became a little nervous at that point because it flew towards a second set of power lines to the west that also parallel the highway. The bird flew very low to the ground and at the last second "popped up" and landed on one of the power poles. The bird was now a little too far for my SLR and the sun was still below the horizon (and it was 3F) so I decided not to get out of the car and try digiscoping. By now it was 7:00am and I decided to leave the area and get a text message out to several people in the hopes of getting the sighting posted to COBIRDS (Thanks Glenn!).
Garmin Nuvi GPS coordinates: N39.32311 W105.87537 Some pre-dawn (dark) photos are located at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/55420...@n07/ Five vehicles searched the area starting 2.5 hours after the original sighting, but could not relocate the bird. The bird may have been perched on the ground making it difficult to find, or it may have completely vacated the area...who knows. It would be worth a try in the next few days to drive the highway near here prior to sunrise to see if the bird returns along the highway. Incidently, there was a flock of about 60-80 Rosy Finches (Gray-crowned, Hepburn's race, and Black) in the town of Como. Joey Kellner Littleton, CO -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
