January 10th, 2012

So today at Laurel Creek, Mademoiselle Nelson’s grade 4 class from Westvale Public School was out for a bird study. Before our hike, I explained to the students that Al from Camp Heidelberg had challenged me to see who could find more species of birds on their property in 2012 (see previous blog). Today I would start my list in earnest. Keep your eyes open kids! 

So our hike started well, with chickadees, juncos, tree sparrows, hosue finches, lots of Canada geese, and a big hairy woodpecker. As we headed down to our marsh, I said to the students, “Looks like a crow up there ahead in that tree.” The dark bird was facing away from us, looking out over the water. As we got closer, it leaned forward showing light underparts. I said, “Oh, it’s a hawk!”  Then it turned to look at us.  Dark head, dark mustache.

“Peregrine Falcon!”

Then it flew low over the cattails and was out of sight.

(photo from Wikipedia)

Back in the classroom, students had to fill out a list of birds they had seen. Often when students see a hawk or a kestrel on the bird hike, they jump to the most famous raptor, and write down “peregrine falcon.” This time we could list it with a clear conscience.

Al tells me that peregrine falcons have been seen on the Christmas bird count in the region a few times since he has been participating. When I first started working at Laurel Creek, Peter Pautler pointed at a bird one day flying over the reservoir and told me it was a peregrine. I took his word for it. It’s probably been 10 years since then for me to see my second at Laurel Creek.