Black Mountain: Grey Falcon support

[Stuart Harris <>]

Mr Milburn,

Wouldnt normally co-comment on things like this but your post trigged something in my mind.  Yesterday morning i attended the fire memorial at Mt Stromlo, i then went to my workplace at Mount Majura vineyard at 11am.   I went straight out into our north block to train young vines.  This is the block where i often see raptors overhead due to to thermals rising on the east side of Mt Majura.  I often observe wedgies, resident brown falcons, nankeen kestrels, black-shouldered kites and even the occassional Peregrine has shot by. Yesterday at approx 1145 to midday i noticed a light coloured bird flying with some skill into a N-NW wind, quite strong, gusting to 60kmph i estimate.  this birds 'jizz' did not immediately offer answers, and my brain was a little confused. It was also silouetted a bit.  One thing was 100% was the tapered wings but i knew it wasnt a peregrine nor brown/black falcon by its pale appearance.  At one moment I looked for tell-tale BSK marking and these were not evident either. What struck me most was the birds agility in negotiating, need i say enjoying, a very stiff wind....and in doing this, it slowly made its way in a SW direction towards the peak of Mt Majura, by which time i was re-focussed on my vineyard task at hand. This would quite easily have the bird on a heading towards Black Mtn for a rendezvous at 1230 hrs given its path.  I had forgotten about this until i read your post this morning.  I have observed the Grey Falcon twice before, oth times in SW QLD. Hope this post helps to substantiate your report. Feel free to repost if deemed necessary.

Regards
Stuart Harris
0404 330 965

On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 10:03 PM, milburn <> wrote:

Yesterday (17 January, 2013) at 12:05 on the O'Connor flank of Black Mountain, my attention was drawn to a falcon soaring overhead in a thermal updraft.  Peregrine-like in form; creamish-white below with a pale grey crown and grey moustachial stripe on a conspicuously pale face, I realised that this was an adult Grey Falcon. While watching the bird ride the thermal, I could see that the bird was pale grey above with contrasting dark primaries.  The bird soared ever upwards and eventually disappeared from sight.

Milburn

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