[SBB] Interesting Peregrine?

[Dean Manley <[[email protected]]>]

Hi SBBers,

Late yesterday afternoon, 03/11, I saw an interesting PEREGRINE FALCON on a
tower along the EEC entrance road in Alviso. It was a juvenile with head
markings I was unfamiliar with.  There was a narrow but distinct, dingy
white supercilium line begining at the central top of the eye and going
back around the nape to meet the line from the other side in an unbroken
fashion. There was a slighty buffy forehead patch and lores. The malar was
not wide and rounded like the typical anatum type that I see, but was more
a medium width and shaped like the inverted dorsal fin of a shark.  The
cere and orbital ring were blue gray.  The legs and feet were also a blue
gray with a very thin yellow cast.  The upper parts were a faded looking
dark brown but the brown does not stand out much.  The pale edging is dingy
white, not buffy. The lower part streaking is the same dark brown, almost
black, with dingy white between streaks.

I might have let this Peregrine go but last night I started going through
Wheeler.  There is one image in Raptors of Western North America that
really got my attention.  It's an arctic type, F.p.tundurius on page 498,
plate 568.  Another photo of this same bird is in the Wheeler and Clark's A
Photographic Guide to North American Raptors (1999 revised ed). Page 153,
photo 12 shows the head markings to better advantage.  The head marking on
this particular Peregrine sure looks most like the Peregrine in question.

I make no subspecies i.d. claims here as I don't have the experience but in
case it is of interest its posted.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Dean Manley



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