I've been seeing peregrine reports lately and it has me wondering if
this is just a good time of year for them.
A couple days ago, I was outside on the phone. Our house is under 1000
square feet, and there's 5 of us here, so I sometimes go outside for
privacy. HA. I took my binocular this time(something I need to do more
often) but, no camera. I'm not sure I could have focused well enough at
the height the bird was at, but I sure wish I had the chance.
I decided it was likely a peregrine falcon... But I definitely can't be
sure. The wings seemed long and slender, too slender for the typical
peregrine in flight picture that I'm looking at. But, what in the world
else could it have been? The length of the wings to body size only had
me thinking osprey and falcon. Or, overall GISS I should say. I'm not
great at describing. :(
But, the bird didn't seem large/bulky enough to really consider
osprey... and those wings sure seemed long and slender... real long
compared to the body size. It was high enough, I couldn't describe
detailed features. I saw some lighter colors near the tail, and on the
head.... nothing specific.
The bird dropped into a dive a time or two, which also felt falconish...
I was pretty sure it was a peregrine... was definitely not a hawk,
osprey, or eagle... Not a kestrel or merlin...
I didn't report it, and will probably leave it that way.
Sure wish I got a picture.
Also, sure wish I was hanging outside more often than I am these days.
That's one of the keys to finding good things.
Our yard has produced golden-winged warblers, blue-winged, canada(only
my kids saw that one), among other cool warblers...
A flyover prairie falcon, flyover golden eagle(have pictures of that
one), heard barn owl, heard veery one year, and other good birds,
including a great kiskadee that I didn't get a picture of a few years
back... (a few is stretching into longer time spans these days) (one
year I saw a bird that looked like it belonged over the ocean... and
another year, I'm pretty sure I had sandhill cranes fly over, but wasn't
able to confirm...)
Many of these birds were there one moment and gone the next.
I quite often wonder just how many REALLY fantastic birds we miss, all
of us, just because we're not in the right place in the right time.
When fantastic stuff does show up, it, in my mind, stands to reason that
there's quite a bit we're missing. LOTS of area to cover, much of it not
covered...
I'm rambling...
It's starting to get cooler, so now is a good time to bring more
activities outside if you can. Find a shady place to do something and
have some binoculars nearby... a camera too. :)
Keep on looking up.
