Hi all, At approximately 10:50 a.m. this moring I observed a light coloured falcon flying obove and between the condominiums located on the west side at the mouth of the Humber River. It appeared to be about the size of a Peregrine Falcon. The upper surface of the wings were brown and the feathers were darker towards the outer third of the wings to the tips. The tail appeared noticibly lighter. I lost sight of the bird and about 20 minutes later picked it up again in the bay on the east side of Humber Bay East. It was harassing the pigeons and attempting to harass the ducks. The geese and gulls were not disturbed by it and neither were most of the ducks. While watching it dive bombing the waterfowl I was trying to observe the dark underwing coverts (as illustrated in most field guides)in order to give me a positive I.D. Unfortunately it spent most of it's time very low to the water and when it did fly up the sun was directly behind it. Later it flew so that I could observe that the underwing coverts had dark streaks in them which contrasted with the lighter primaries. I tried to focus on the axilla region and briefly saw a darker area (band) along the feathers where the underside of the wing met the body. There were dark streaks on the sides of the breast which reminded me of the light breast streaking seen on Red-tailed Hawks. I never did see that the underwing coverts were as dark as most field guides show. On page 120 of the first edition (1996)of the Stokes Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America there is a picture of a Prairie Falcon which very closely resembles this bird. Backlit by the sun it appeared larger than a Peregrine but I did see it almost grab a Mallard and it was smaller than the Mallard. The facial markings were very pronounced, especially the sideburns and the cap was uniformly brown. It had a strong direct flight and only occassionaly soared.
To those who want to try for this bird I would suggest checking out this area mid morning and looking around the many cliffs (condos) on the west side of the Humber River. I observed the bird until about noon at which time it stopped hunting in this area. My apologies for not getting the word out sooner but in my excitement I locked my cell phone,keys and camera in my car. Fortunately my car was running so they were all nice and warm, unlike me. Good Luck, Garth P.S. While trying to refind the bird one of my sons found a pocket watch. Please contact me if you know of anyone who lost one at Humber Bay East. Humber Bay East is located south of Lake Shore Blvd. south of Parklawn Rd. in west Toronto. South of Lakeshore Blvd. keep on the road as it vers east the condos will be directly in front of you and the bay were the bird was dive bombing the waterfowl will be on your left. Stop along the side of the road and look for Rock Pigeons being spooked into flight. ===== Garth Riley Etobicoke, Ontario [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping" your friends today! Download Messenger Now http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/download/index.html =?iso-8859-1?q?Garth=20Riley?= <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Visit http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm for information on leaving and joining the list. As well as general information and content guidelines.
