ID help please! Juvie Peregrine or a Prairie Falcon?

[jay...@gmail.com]

All:

I'm a bit stumped on this ID.  Seen this morning in a filed just north of Union Res in Weld Co.  Bird was sitting in the field  for 10+minutes and I got a few pics from scope. 

So I figure it's either a juvenille Peregrine or a Prairie Falcon. Obvious dark mustache, white cheeks and throat. 

Please comment away!

Jay Hutchins

Longmont

Sent from my iPhone

[Peter Ruprecht]

I'd go with immature Peregrine. The malar is too wide for a Prairie, and I'd expect a Prairie of any age to have a more distinct light supercilium.

Peter Ruprecht

Superior

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[Tony Leukering]

As suggested to me by Dave Leatherman, that looks more like an Eurasian Hobby. I've sent a screen grab to a Brit friend in Connecticut for his opinion.

Tony Leukering

Cut Bank, MT

[Tony Leukering]

Note that the wingtips extend beyond the tail tip, a feature not true for Prairie or Peregrine, particularly for the shorter-winged juveniles.

Tony Leukering

[Tony Leukering]

All:

My Brit friend is confused by the bird in the photos:

" The pictures are just awkward enough to create some uncertainty. The shape of the malar looks blobby and round-ended; it looks odd to me for Hobby, but I have no explanation for what it could be. Bill is small on Hobby."

If we rule out Eurasian Hobby, what about other falcons not on the CO state list? Aplomado doesn't work at all. Juvenile Red-footed Falcon doesn't sport so much black on the face. And none of Oriental Falcon, Bat Falcon, and Orange-breasted Falcon looks anything like the Weld bird, even as juvs. And that's the end of the list of even remotely possible wild occurrences by Falco species not on the ABA-Area list. And it doesn't look like a juvenile Eleonora's Falcon (a beast I'd really like to see due to its hunting habits;  Eleonora's falcon - Wikipedia  ).

It still looks more like a hobby than any other falcon I've seen, and if the bird is not a Eurasian Hobby, then we might need to think about what odd hybrids falconers may have created that might match this bird's appearance.

Enjoy,

Tony Leukering

Cut Bank, MT

[Timothy Barksdale]

CO Birders

I also see a long winged falcon as Tony noted, but I feel the tail /primary difference is due to angles, not the actual lengths.

The malar stripe is well within "normal" peregrine (especially tundrius).

We all need to remember that a lot of "Heinz 57" peregrines are out there. Even USFWS relied upon some birds with Scottish genes. 

At the Alton, Illinois eyrie about a week ago, I was struck by how much the male looked like one of the arctic breeders which I filmed at Kuujuaq years ago, while the female has one of the most "anatum" heads- almost like a Helmet. So even within mated pairs there is quite a range of variation, which produces offspring carrying a ton of genetic material all over the place.

Tim B.

  Mokane, MO and Choteau, MT