I went out with Jack Voog and Vic Peppe as they flew their Gyrfalcons = Sunday. I got a lesson in Gyrfalcon behavior. Jack saw a Grey Gyrfalcon = in Brooklyn Park Thanksgiving weekend. He was working out his bird with = a lure when this other bird came in, made a pass at his bird, and = perched in a nearby tree. He has a license to trap passage juveniles as = a Master Falconer. This is a tightly regulated permit process. He did = not trap this bird, though it was seen one other time. The area it was = seen in was west of Hwy 169 =BD mile south of the Hwy 610/169 = intersection. Jack told me he has seen Gyrs in this area before, as = well as other metro areas. He said the biggest draw for Gyrs is = swirling flocks of birds, either pigeons at grain elevators or ducks at = open water. Jack has seen a Gyr in past years at the small pond on = Douglas drive south of Duluth Street in Golden Valley, right by the RR = tracks. The RR yard in Fridley has attracted Prairie Falcons and Gyrs = in the past. =20 He is going to work with other falconers to get sightings confirmed and = documented in the future. Falconers in the past have had sightings = rejected with no explanation other than "record not accepted" and they = assumed they were not taken seriously. They do not bother to submit = sightings anymore. I told them it needs to be properly documented and = witnessed, and I offered my assistance. They see many Snowy Owls and = rare raptors every winter as they are out hunting their birds in remote = fields in January and February when everyone else stays on the beaten = paths or indoors. =20 If I get a contact from them, I will post it to the rare bird alert and = to Mnbird and MOU-net and ask that someone try to get out to the site to = confirm the sightings. They do considerable work locating raptor nests = also and do not complete nesting records when they find them; I am going = to work with them as well. These people share many interests with us and = their knowledge of birds exceeds ours in some areas. We need to get to = know them and let them get to know us. We stand to both benefit from = this relationship.
Mark Alt=20 President,=20 Minnesota Ornithologists Union J. F. Bell Museum of Natural History University of Minnesota 10 Church Street SE Minneapolis, MN 55455-0104 MOU.mn.org [email protected] Cell: 612-803-9085
