Last seen going east. Subsequent check of shoreline trees east of the Oswego River did not find it. Probably went past Derby Hill and up the east lakeshore, or perhaps will come back to Oswego or maybe Sodus. Fair Haven was a big disappointment but another place to check. This particular individual is not ambiguous and does not superficially resemble a Peregrine beyond being a falcon. If seen perched at a distance one might think an imm. Bald Eagle or dark-morph Rough-leg. More description in eBird entry below. No falconry attachments were noticed hanging off its legs. I suspect the abrupt change in weather is what had it moving along the lakeshore, which is why I was moving along the lakeshore. David Wheeler N Syracuse, NY
Oswego Harbor, Oswego, US-NY Jan 18, 2012 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Protocol: Stationary Comments: Abrupt change in weather over previous 24 hours; south winds followed by 40-45 kt sustained W winds overnight, subsiding to 15-20 kts NW at the time of observation 14 species Canada Goose 100 Mallard X Redhead 2 Greater Scaup 5 White-winged Scoter 1 Long-tailed Duck 20 Red-breasted Merganser X Red-throated Loon 1 Red-necked Grebe 1 Gyrfalcon 1 Flew directly overhead at low altitude and commenced chasing gulls for ~20 seconds, then flew east flushing a Canada Goose flock on the lawn at Fort Ontario; well seen in binoculars and spotting scope at 25-75 yards; thought to be a dark morph or possibly an imm. gray morph; a huge, massive-bodied (like a bulging, over-pressurized 2-liter bottle of root beer) plain brown falcon; dark brown back and head with no hint of "mustache" or "sideburns"; dark eye; big tapered tail with brown/black banding; slow, powerful wingbeats; carefully observed to eliminate Peregrine but the bird bore no superficial resemblance to Peregrine aside from being a falcon. Suspect abrupt weather change is responsible for it moving along the lakeshore on this particular day. No falconry attachments noticed. Ring-billed Gull 200 Herring Gull 100 Glaucous Gull 1 Great Black-backed Gull 20 This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org) -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
