Prairie Falcon but no Pygmy-Owl relocated for Airlie-Albany CBC count week

[Joel Geier]

Hi all,

A couple of species missed on Sunday's Airlie-Albany CBC were Northern Pygmy-Owl and Prairie Falcon.

A Northern Pygmy-Owl has been hunting our back yard off and on all winter, probably part of a pair that was frequenting Tampico Ridge last winter and over the summer (also observed by Western Oregon University researchers). However I haven't heard any tooting since summer, so perhaps the owl that's been coming around is a female. Despite hiking the whole ridge line on Sunday (thanks to unprecedented access granted by multiple neighbors in the "Greater Tampico" / Soap Creek community), and doing a fair amount of owl imitations as I usually do for CBCs, I could not locate one. Great Horned Owls have really taken over the ridge this past year, with up to five or six calling back and forth in recent weeks, so any small owls still around might be wise to stay quiet.

A Prairie Falcon had been seen earlier this winter in the De Armond area of southern Polk County, but was also missed on count day. This afternoon I went out to see if I could find it for count week.

I went twice nearly around the whole large "block" bounded by Hwy 99W, Airlie Rd., De Armond and Robison, reversing directions when I got to Wiles. Scanned every irrigation rig, bare fields etc., but no falcon (though I did finally see my first TRUMPETER SWANS of the winter -- 3 of them way out east of De Armond).

When I got back to Hwy 99W x Coffin Butte Rd., I figured maybe I should try the BPA powerline corridor from Suver to Ryals. So I went back to Suver Rd., then worked my way south along Corvallis/Independence Hwy, scanning all of the power poles, irrigation rigs and fields. Still nothing until I got to Ryals, just in time to catch "rush hour" for Santiam Christian School parent pick-up. I had probably 30 cars go past, as I kept pulling over to the side.

Finally there it was, standing on a tall power pole just south of a Bald Eagle on the next set of poles. One thing I've noticed about Prairie Falcons in the past is that they tend to stand flat-footed on those poles, instead of perching on the edge like a kestrel, and tilting forward unlike a Red-tailed Hawk. That worked out well for spotting the bird this time, and I had the scope along to confirm. The falcon even kindly made a short flight out from the pole and then returned so I could check the axillaries.

I suspect this is the same Prairie Falcon that we were seeing earlier this winter in southern Polk County. There is a broad arc of suitable habitat that runs east from the Airlie/De Armond neighborhood across Hwy 99W, then south along the BPA powerline on the east side of E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area. I think one is always in this neighborhood every winter for the past 2+ decades, but they're easy to miss unless you have good viewing conditions and you're willing to do a lot of long-range scoping.

--

Joel Geier

Greater Tampico area north of Corvallis

[Joel Geier]

Sorry for the poor sentence construction on my tip about how to look for Prairie Falcons on tall power poles. A better way to write that sentence would be:

One thing I've noticed about Prairie Falcons in the past is that they tend to stand flat-footed on those poles, instead of perching on the edge like a kestrel; they also tilt forward unlike a Red-tailed Hawk.