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August 25, 2004

Red-footed falcon - Photos!

As it happens, the place where I'm staying on Martha's Vineyard for a few days is about a half mile down a dirt road from the tiny airfield where the red-footed falcon is staying...the first and only sighting of this bird in North America, and it's drawing birders from all over. I went out today with my camera and got some startling photos of the little critter...

Roosting
Roosting in the distance

Tiny against the cloudless sky
Tiny against the cloudless sky

Super enlargment of previous photo
Super enlargment of previous photo. Notice the wing markings. Beautiful!

Soaring against the sun
Soaring against the sun

Coming in to roost
Coming in to roost. It's not shy of people!

Baby falcon
Newborn falcon! How adorable! Now we know why it's been hanging around!

Best one
Crisp and clear...the best photo I got

Birders
Birders gather to watch. Had they been a little more observant, they might have seen what I saw.

Posted by D. Weinberger at August 25, 2004 04:20 PM


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The other day, I thought I heard Dr. Weinberger; must have been favorable acoustic conditions from the west. And it doesn’t take glasses to see Halley, even when she’s up on the Cape. (Hope he’s feeling better, Halley.) I rather coars... [Read More]

Tracked on August 27, 2004 03:07 PM

Comments

jerk

Posted by: Anonymous | August 30, 2004 04:39 PM


maybe you'll be lucky enough to understand, someday; when you do, you'll rejoice.

Posted by: john fitzpatrick | September 1, 2004 09:18 PM


I laughed out loud. Privacy, even that of a small, windowless office has some benefits.

Guess that makes me a jerk also? At least I'm in good company.

Can I laugh with David W. and also be for the birds?

Posted by: bluesjunky | September 3, 2004 12:03 PM


I have some grave concerns regarding the age of the hatching year falcon. The lack of feathers not withstanding, the compound-eye color suggests at least a second year. This, of course, may be the result of the exposure.

Posted by: Joan Walsh | September 23, 2004 08:06 AM


Joan's failure to notice the number of legs in the newborn falcon photo illustrates the point of Niedermeyer (1979) when he said, Walsh (1975) was so blind as to neither see the forest for the trees NOR the dog for the fleas!

Posted by: Steve H. | September 24, 2004 09:44 AM


Rubbish, it's clearly not a "jerk" - that would be more blurry. More of a "twitch" I think.

Posted by: Chris Elphick | September 24, 2004 07:26 PM


Looks like a Herring Gull to me. Who knows, it could be a hybrid though.

smithsonianusXreligiosa is always a possibility.

Posted by: Patrick Comins | September 24, 2004 08:59 PM


Given Steve "No Fly List" H.'s (Ashcroft, 2003)familiarity with fleas on his "dog" it it not without irony that one needs to point out to "him" the late stage of moult on photo 4 when contrasted to photo 3. Neither reveal any "trees", and his attempts to further obfuscate and otherwise muddy the issue of the "leg count" only serve to remind us that we have established what he is, now we are only haggling over the price (Wilde, 1933).

Posted by: Joan Walsh | September 27, 2004 10:35 AM


Was pleased to see the one photo of the actual Red-footed Falcon. I took that on Tuesday August 10th beside Vernon Laux, Peter and Jeremiah Trimble and Bob Stymiest the first afternoon that it had been correctly i.d'd way out on the airstrip the day before the crowds descended. We were all alone and pondering whether to keep this in the birding community or make it a media bird. It had been around for days, moulting, accessable by ferry and van routes, bird was not shy (unafraid of people, planes and even helicopters), there was food, drinks, shade and restroom at airstrip restaurant. So we worked hard on the Boston Globe, NY Times, local papers and tv, and 5000 came to see Red Sox. My photo above was on a few sheets I posted at Whoosies Restaurant and the ferries.

P.Alden, President Nuttall Orn. Club, Cambridge

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