ML619655778

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Large falcon of a size of male Peregrine, but with different wing beats (without the fluid "whipping" quality of a Peregrine flight) and with less pointy wings. Very pale/ gray overall with a stunningly pale gray head and a thin "mustache" very clearly visible on it. Dark armpits with black markings extending throughout the entire length of the wings. Otherwise very pale underneath. Seen at a tree top height from about 100 yards away, with 10x50 binoculars, in very good lighting (front lighting on an overcast day, with the sun barely if at all visible through the clouds). The bird was flying NNE ahead of a coming storm. I am including a poor quality phone picture of the silhouette of the bird flying away (sadly, I was not able to take a better photo with my camera). The falcon is pictured in a downstroke why flying away and to the right of the photo (NNE). It is followed by two much smaller Barn Swallows. Here are the observation details I noted and posted on Discord right after seeing the bird: I had just arrived at the ponds and was taking the first look of the sandbars from the car, when I heard a raucous of alarm calls of redwings and swallows. I looked around and saw a large falcon flying north at a close distance over the center pond. I thought: great, I think I finally found a Peregrine I thought I was going to miss this spring! Then I saw that the bird was very gray/ pale, with a very pale head and a thin dark mustache, which really stood out on the pale head. When I saw the dark armpits on the underside of the wings, extending throughout the entire length of both wings, which were very easy to see and very much stood out on that bird, I literally dropped my binos on the seat. My camera was still in the photo bag, and the bird was flying past and away pretty fast. There was no way I could get the camera out in time, remove the cap, etc and still get the bird before it disappeared out of view. I bolted out of the car, whipped out my phone (I can access the camera on it without a pin by double-pressing the on/off button), and I managed to take a distant photo of the bird, which was already past the Dutch Creek. You can't identify it from the photo, but you can see its shape and relative size compared to the swallows chasing it. This was absolutely nuts!

Technical information

Model

Pixel 7a

Lens

Pixel 7a back camera 5.43mm f/1.89

ISO

67

Focal length

5.4 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/1.9

Shutter speed

1281/1000000 sec

Dimensions

594 pixels x 555 pixels

Original file size

36.69 KB