[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Prairie Falcons in the Carolinas
- To: "carolinabirds@acpub.duke.edu" <carolinabirds@acpub.duke.edu>
- Subject: Prairie Falcons in the Carolinas
- From: Harry LeGrand <Harry.LeGrand@ncmail.net>
- Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 17:13:36 -0500
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Folks:
The two older SC reports were mine, from the Clemson area, as I
believe Donna Bailey mentioned the dates and locations. Both were in
late November in large fields; one bird got up from the field and soared
overhead; the other I saw soaring or flying over the field. They COULD
have been true vagrants from out West. But, the SC Committee considered
them as possible/likely escapes, and thus they are not on the
Provisional List. Ditto for NC -- the one sighting was many years ago,
by Bob Holmes on Cedar Island, I believe, I think in May, perhaps an odd
time for a valid stray. It is on the Unaccepted Origin List for NC.
One problem about these being valid strays is the apparent lack of any
Prairie Falcon reports in fall or early winter from Cape May, NJ,
Kiptopeke, VA, and other hawk-watching sites. Whereas Swainson's Hawks
do stray east fairly regularly in fall, and even the very rare
Ferruginous has a few times (recently in early winter in e. VA), the
Prairie is not showing this same pattern. As the Prairie Falcon is kept
by falconers, I think it would be a tough sell for a State Records
Committee to accept as valid a sighting, even a photo, of a Prairie,
whether it had jesses, etc., on its legs or not. The species is a bit
migratory, and other Western birds do stray to the East -- Calliope
Hummingbird, Pacific-Slope Flycatcher, and many others -- but I am not
aware of any confirmed valid stray Prairie Falcons in the East (though
this would be hard to prove).
--
Harry LeGrand
NC Natural Heritage Program
1615 MSC
Raleigh, NC 27699-1615
(919) 715-8687 (work)
FAX: 919-715-3085
e-mail: harry.legrand@ncmail.net